AUTOMATION AND THE 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



A survey sponsored by 

THE COUNCIL ON LIBRARY RESOURCES, INC. 



Submitted by: 

GILBERT W. KING, Chairman 
HAROLD P. EDMUNDSON 
MERRILL M. FLOOD 
MANFRED KOGHEN 
RICHARD L. LIBBY 
DON R. SWANSON 
ALEXANDER WYLLY 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • WASHINGTON : 1963 



L.G. Card 64-60015 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402- Price $2.00 



Contents 



Page 

Letter of Transmittal v 

Acknowledgments vn 

Section: 

I. The Automation Survey: Background and Conclu- 

sions 1 

Background 1 

Conclusions 2 

Recommendations 2 

Benefits of Automation 2 

II. Assessment of Need 4 

The Research Library Today 4 

Automation's Promise 6 

III. Assessment of Feasibility 7 

General Requirements 7 

Storage and Processing Requirements 7 

Multiple-Access Requirements 8 

Printing Requirements 8 

Feasibility of Storage, Processing, and Input 9 

Feasibility of File Conversion 9 

Microform Storage 9 

Feasibility of Automated Stack Storage and Re- 
trieval 10 

State of Information Science 11 

Conclusion 11 

rV. Projection of a System 12 

Operational Description 12 

Cataloging 12 

Use of Consoles by Library Clients 13 



Page 

A Cost Analysis of an Automated System for the Library 

of Congress 27 

Foreword 29 

Section: 

I. Background and Summary 31 

Background 31 

Summary of Findings : 32 

Conclusion 33 

II. Identification of Major Library Activities 35 

Summary >35 

Activities Considered for Cost Analysis 35 

The Processing Department 37 

The Reference Department 38 



Page 

Section — Continued 

IV. Projection of a System — Continued 
Operational Description — Continued 

Use of Consoles by Library Staff 15 

Methods of Search 15 

Search Tables : . . . 16 

Use of Microform Storage 17 

System Characteristics 17 

V. Implementation of a System 19 

Management of the Transition 19 

Auxiliary Research and Development Needs 19 

Trillion-Bit Memory 19 

Consoles 19 

Graphic Output Editing and Composing 20 

User-System Tutorial Interaction 20 

Communication Technology 20 

Textual Data Conversion Methods 20 

VI. Consequences of Automation 21 

Impact on the National Library System 21 

Information Flow 21 

Interlibrary Cooperation 21 

Impact on the Library User 22 

Effect on Availability of Scientific and Technical 

Infotmation 22 

Organization of the Collections 23 

Measurement and Feedback of Library Effective- 
ness 23 

Concluding Comment 23 



Section — Continued Page 

III. Sketch of Functions to be Performed by an 
Automated System 40 

Summary 40 

Acquisition and Recording Functions 40 

Cataloging Functions 41 

Staff and Reader File Access 42 

Circulation and Control Functions 43 

Editing Functions 44 

Administrative Functions 45 

Miscellaneous Functions 46 

IV. Statistics for Key Library Operations 49 

Summary 49 

Introduction 49 



m 



CONTENTS 



Section IV — Continued Page 

Acquisitions and Internal Processing Activities. ... 49 

Cataloging Activities 51 

Catalog Use 51 

Circulation and Retrieval Activities 53 

V. Basic Hardware Specifications 54 

Summary 54 

Introduction 54 

The Central Catalog 54 

The Monograph Processing File 56 

The Serial File 57 

The Exchange Record 60 

The Location Directory and the Not-on-Shelf File . . 60 

The Circulation File 61 

The Catalog Authority File 61 

The Combined Function Groups 62 

Consoles 66 

Hardware Requirements for Editing and Publication 

Functions 69 

Hardware for Graphic Storage and Retrieval 69 

Other Hardware Requirements 70 

Functions Excluded or Analyzed Separately 70 

Resum6 of Hardware Specifications 71 

VI. Hardware and Software Costs 73 

Summary 73 

Hardware Costs 73 

Software Costs 76 

Rental vs. Purchase 77 

VII. Operating Costs of the Automated System 78 

Summary 78 

Personnel Costs 78 

Recurrent Hardware-Related Costs 80 

VIII. Costs of Conversion to Digital-Form Storage. . 82 

Summary 82 

The Conversion Process 82 

Cost of File Conversion 83 

IX. Cost Projection for the Manual System 85 

Summary 85 

Introduction 85 

Salary Cost Estimates 85 

List of Exhibits 

1. Functional Block Diagram of an Automated 

Library System facing 31 

2. Functions of an Automated Library System 31 



List of Exhibits — Continued Page 

3. Procurement Costs of an Automated System 32 

4. Organization Chart of the Library of Congress 36 

5. Summary of Departments with Respect to Cost 

Analysis 37 

6. Divisions of the Processing Department 37 

7. Divisions of the Reference Department 39 

8. Statistics for Acquisition and Processing Activities: 

1949-61 50 

9. Serial Record Processing Statistics: 1953-61 50 

10. National Union Catalog Statistics: Cards Sub- 

mitted by Other Libraries: 1949-61 51 

11. Estimated Catalog Uses for Reference Services: 

1949-61 52 

12. Card Division Statistics: 1949-61 53 

13. Statistics for Volumes Delivered, Retrieved by 

Photoduplication, Shelflisted, and Lent: 1949-61. 53 

14. Central Catalog Specifications: Initial Size 55 

15. Central Catalog Specifications: Number of Uses Per 

Year 56 

16. Central Catalog Specifications: Number of Uses Per 

Hour and Per Second 57 

17. Monograph Processing File Specifications 58 

18. Serial File Specifications: Capacity and Use 59 

19. Exchange Record Specifications 60 

20. Location Directory Specifications 61 

21. Not-on-Shelf File Specifications 62 

22. Circulation File Specifications 63 

23. Catalog Authority File: Specifications 64 

24. Combined Function Groups 65 

25. Console Keyboard Character Set 66 

26. Preset Message Formats and Operation Instructions 

for the Consoles 67 

27. Number of Consoles Required 68 

28. Summary of Hardware Specifications and Re- 

quirements by Function 71 

29. Basic Hardware Costs of the Automated System. ... 74 

30. Sources of Price Estimates for Basic Hardware Items . 76 

31. Summary of Basic Hardware and Software Costs. ... 77 

32. Annual Salary Costs of the Automated System: 1 972 . 79 

33. Description of Hardware-Oriented Groups 80 

34. Recurring Annual Costs of Basic Hardware Items . . 81 

35. Files to be Converted to Digital Form 84 

36. Costs of Conversion of Existing Files to Digital 

Form 84 

37. Salary Costs of the Manual System in 1972: Acqui- 

sition and Internal Processing 86 

38. Salary Costs of the Manual System in 1972: Cata- 

loging and Catalog Maintenance 87 

39. Salary Costs of the Manual System in 1972: Circu- 

lation, Retrieval, and Storage 88 



IV 



The Honorable L. Quincy Mumford, 
Librarian of Congress. 



December 1, 1963. 



Dear Sir : 

We are pleased to be able to submit to you a report in which the automation of 
major operations within the Library of Congress is shown to be both desirable and 
feasible. The main body of the report argues that automation is needed because, with 
present methods, research libraries are failing to meet developing information needs 
not only in the areas of science and technology, but also in the arts and humanities. 
We believe that libraries should take advantage of modern technology in order to offer 
new, and hitherto unrealizable, services to their users. 

The Appendix to the report presents an analysis indicating Library functions 
that can, and should, be automated and what the costs are likely to be. 

Based on this study, we are unanimously agreed that immediate action should 
be taken to establish a program leading initially to automation in the Library of 
Congress and ultimately to the incorporation of large research libraries throughout 
the country into an automated library system. 

Respectfully submitted 

Gilbert W. King, Chairman 
Harold P. Edmundson 
Merrill M. Flood 
Manfred Kochen 
Richard L. Libby 
Don R. Swan son 
Alexander Wylly 



Acknowledgments 



The survey team acknowledges its appreciation of many formal and informal 
discussions on the problem assigned to it. In particular, the team appreciates the 
guidance and support given to it personally by Verner W. Clapp, President of the 
Council on Library Resources, Inc. 

The aid given to the survey team by the staff of the Library of Congress and, in 
particular, by Henry J. Dubester and Mrs. Barbara Evans Markuson in almost every 
aspect of this survey has been of enormous value. They imparted to the team an 
insider's feeling for Library problems, organization, and practices, and they gathered 
needed data and undertook a number of special investigations for the team. Their 
comments upon the initial draft of the report did much to improve its final version. 

It has been a rewarding personal experience to work with the Library on this 
project. L. Ouincy Mumford, Librarian of Congress, and Rutherford D. Rogers, 
Deputy Librarian of Congress, enhanced the work of the survey team, not only by 
giving so much of their own time but by encouraging an atmosphere of cooperation 
and interest within the Library toward the survey and the team members. 

The survey team also wishes to express its appreciation to the members of its 
Advisory Committee, Herman H. Fussier, Director of the University of Chicago 
Library; Edward M. Heiliger, Director of Library Services, Florida Atlantic Uni- 
versity ( formerly Librarian of the Chicago Undergraduate Division Library, University 
of Illinois) ; Frank B. Rogers, Librarian of the Charles Dennison Memorial Library, 
University of Colorado Medical Center (formerly Librarian of the National Library 
of Medicine) ; and Frederick H. Wagman, Director of the University of Michigan 
Library. Their ability to interpret the modern research library milieu to outsiders 
and their comments and suggestions have been of great value throughout this project. 

David F. Loeb of the Itek Corporation has contributed to the editing of this 
report. 

Much of the work of the analysis presented in the Appendix was performed by 
Herbert T. Spiro and Allan D. Kotin of the Planning Research Corporation, to whom 
the survey team is .greatly indebted. 

vn 



SECTION I 



The Automation Survey: Background and Conclusions 



Background 

During the past decade the Library of Congress, in 
common with many other research libraries, has be- 
come increasingly aware of pressures and strains in 
many of its operations. These areas of concern (well 
known to librarians) include mounting arrearages in 
cataloging and other processing activities; increasing 
complexity of manual inventory control files; increas- 
ing difficulty in keeping card catalogs reasonably cur- 
rent and accurate; and increasing demands for a wide 
variety of services for a clientele whose needs for in- 
formation have grown tremendously since World War 
II, and many of whom have only recently turned to 
large research libraries for help. Five years ago an 
internal committee of the Library of Congress was 
charged to study potential applications of electronic 
data processing equipment to Library procedures ; sub- 
sequently representatives of three computer firms made 
brief studies of Library operations which intimated 
that certain areas could benefit substantially by auto- 
mation. 

The Library took the stand that it was not immedi- 
ately concerned with mechanizing a few operations ; it 
sought a plan to provide a blueprint for its actions 
during the next 5 or 10 years. To do this, the Li- 
brarian, L. Quincy Mumford, asked the Council on 
Library Resources, Inc., on behalf of the Library of 
Congress and other large research libraries, for help 
in conducting a study to consider the practicability 
and advisability of applying mechanization to the total 
bibliographical system of a large research library. The 
approach suggested to the Council was a survey con- 
ducted by a team of outside specialists whose efforts 
would be supported by a staff within the Library to 
aid in the necessary studies and to provide liaison be- 
tween librarians and survey team members. Because 
it was most desirable to reflect the needs of other li- 
braries whose problems may not be entirely identical 
with those of the Library of Congress, it was sug- 

715-690 — 64 2 



gested that an Advisory Committee of librarians from 
other libraries be selected to provide the survey team 
with an expert group whose experience could be 
drawn upon when needed. 

On April 23, 1961, the Council on Library Re- 
sources, Inc., announced a $100,000 grant to the Li- 
brary of Congress for "a survey of the possibilities of 
automating the organization, storage, and retrieval of 
information in a large research library . . . not only 
from the point of view of the functioning of an indi- 
vidual institution but also from that of a research li- 
brary whose activities are interrelated with those of 
other research libraries." 

To undertake this investigation the Librarian of 
Congress invited Gilbert W. King to head a survey 
team of technical specialists. Other members named 
to the seven-man team were Harold P. Edmundson, 
Merrill M. Flood, Manfred Kochen, Richard L. Libby, 
Don R. Swanson, and Alexander Wylly. To the Ad- 
visory Committee Dr. Mumford appointed four dis- 
tinguished librarians : Herman H. Fussier, Edward M. 
Heiliger, Frank B. Rogers, and Frederick H. Wagman. 
Verner W. Clapp, President of the Council of Library 
Resources, Inc., participated in the initial planning of 
the survey. Henry J. Dubester, Chief of the Library's 
General Reference and Bibliography Division, was de- 
tailed to serve as coordinator of the program, and Mrs. 
Barbara Evans Markuson was appointed to assist him 
and the team. 

As the Library of Congress itself was to be the prin- 
cipal focus of the study, an intensive orientation period 
was provided by means of reports, demonstrations, 
and meetings concerning various Library operations. 
Arrangements were also made for the team to visit, 
as a group, the University of California Libraries in 
Los Angeles and in Berkeley. Individual team mem- 
bers visited many other large libraries both in the 
United States and abroad. As required, special analy- 
ses were made either by team members, by the Library 
supporting staff, or by contract to an outside firm. 

1 



2 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



One such report is included in the Appendix to this 
document. ( Studies prepared by the Library's Office 
of the Information Systems Specialist and the prelim- 
inary costing study conducted by Planning Research 
Corporation were developed for internal use only; 
copies are not available for distribution.) 

The grant provided funds to support a total of 3 
months of investigation spread over as many months 
as it was deemed necessary. According to the grant 
from the Council, the survey was expected to result in a 
statement "of the feasibility of mechanization of re- 
search library activities and of requirements for such 
mechanization." The report obviously cannot do 
more than provide guidelines for consideration by the 
Library administration. The team, in accordance 
with the stipulations of the grant, considered both cur- 
rent technology and foreseeable developments. This 
report is not, and should not be considered, the result 
of a detailed systems design study which it, indeed, 
recommends as the next step. It is a study of the 
feasibility of the application of automation to certain 
functions of the Library of Congress and, as such, re- 
flects the opinions of the survey team members study- 
ing this problem. 

Conclusions 

The survey team reached the following conclusions : 

1. Automation can, within the next decade, augment 
and accelerate the services rendered by large re- 
search libraries and can have a profound effect 
upon their responsiveness to the needs of library 
users. (See pages 4-6, 12-18,22-23.) 

2. Automation of bibliographic processing, catalog 
searching, and document retrieval is technically 
and economically feasible in large research li- 
braries. (See pages 7-10.) 

3. The retrieval of the intellectual content of books 
by automatic methods is not now feasible for large 
collections, but progress in that direction will be 
advanced by effective automation of cataloging and 
indexing functions. (Seepages 10-11.) 

4. Automation will enhance the adaptability 'of li- 
braries to changes in the national research en- 
vironment and will facilitate the development of a 
national library system. (See pages 21-23.) 

5. Automation will reduce the cost-to-performance 
ratio; however, the Library should aim at the ex- 
pansion of services rather than the reduction of 
total operating costs. ( See pages 5, 11.) 



Recommendations 

The survey team recommends that the Librarian of 
Congress take the following actions : 

1. Request $750,000 to be devoted to securing system 
specifications for the automation 'of the internal 
operations of the Library of Congress and the func- 
tions it performs for other libraries. 1 

2. Request funds for implementing the system specified 
by the above design effort immediately upon its 
completion. 

3. Establish a group within the Library to administer 
the automation project and to assume responsibility 
for its continuing implementation. 

With respect to the second rcommendation, it is im- 
possible to arrive at a precise and accurate total cost 
for the automation project prior to a detailed design 
effort. The cost study included in the Appendix was 
made at the direction of the survey team to establish 
bounds. Based on this study, the survey team esti- 
mates in a preliminary way that successful automation 
of the scope envisioned in this report can be carried 
out for a sum between $50 and $70 million, an amount 
approximately equal to the budget of the Library for 
3 years. 2 

Benefits of Automation 

The immediate objective of automation will be to 
solve the pressing problems that face research libraries, 
among which are problems of bibliographic organiza- 
tion and control. In the long run, however, the most 

1 This amount is based on the team's experience with the 
cost of similar projects and their estimate of the number and 
types of personnel required to work on various aspects of the 
study. 

2 The cost study, reported in the Appendix, estimates that 
the procurement of hardware, software, and necessary file 
conversion for automation of the central bibliographic opera- 
tion of the Library of Congress would amount to about $30 
million. The survey team accepts this as a reasonable cost 
for the system described ; however, it strongly urges that the 
Library of Congress go beyond the minimum automation of 
its operations and work toward a network of libraries which it 
serves in a central capacity. It should work toward the de- 
velopment of a communications network among research 
libraries, the development of automated graphic storage sys- 
tems, and the automation of the card distribution services 
(excluded in the cost study except for some minor opera- 
tions). The team believes that the $50 to $70 million esti- 
mate is the more realistic to achieve an automated library 
system whose benefits can be shared by research libraries 
throughout the United States. 



THE AUTOMATION SURVEY: BACKGROUND AND CONCLUSIONS 



3 



significant effect of automation will be the focusing 
of the services of the library on the individual user for 
the optimal satisfaction of his research needs. Ideally 
an automated system should place the full resources of 
the library at the immediate disposal of the user. 
These resources should be more varied in nature and 
contain a much richer set of statistical and bibliograph- 
ical data than it is practical to provide in conventional 
libraries. The services of reference librarians can be 
greatly extended in those areas where the fallibility and 
limit of human memory are a barrier to providing in- 
formation that the user needs. At the same time our 
relatively scarce resources in terms of expert reference 
librarians will be better utilized in those areas where 
human judgment and intellect can provide services 
beyond the capabilities that can be supplied by a 
mechanized system. 

Further, the benefits of the automation of the Li- 
brary of Congress may be shared by all libraries that 
elect to use the Library's services. 

Some specific short-range benefits of automation will 
be to: 

1 . Accelerate the acquisition and processing of library 
materials and permit effective file monitoring. 

2. Increase the reliability and completeness of re- 
sponse to requests. 



3. Decrease the effort of user and librarian in the 
search for information and simultaneously provide 
more rapid service. 

4. Accelerate the production of bibliographies and 
other library publications. 

5. Provide greater assurance of the integrity of the 
collections. 

6. Permit increased depth of indexing. 

7. Improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of serial 
record control, circulation control, and other rec- 
ord-keeping functions. 

The most important longer range benefits will be to: 

1. Increase use of libraries in support of nationwide 
endeavors. 

2. Service information requests of greater complexity 
and with a higher degree of responsiveness than is 
currently possible. 

3. Create information compendia tailored to the user's 
needs. 

4. Enhance interlibrary cooperation and secure for 
the individual user the benefits of the community 
of library resources. 

The sections that follow amplify the above conclu- 
sions and recommendations and describe the phases of 
implementation, including a transition period. 



SECTION II 



Assessment of Need 



The Research Library Today 

One of the notable changes in our culture over the 
past 2 decades has been the growth in academic and 
technical activity. The number of people drawn into 
this activity has increased at least tenfold. The effect 
has been to make information a critically important 
national product. By its nature, information is heavily 
dependent upon itself, that is, upon prior information; 
thus, improving its use can have tremendous implica- 
tions in our future academic and technical growth. 
If automation can bring about such improvement, it 
will surely be justified by its contribution to the quality 
of a large and important part of our national effort. 

Research librarians face a range of serious prob- 
lems which stem from the rate at which information 
is accumulating and from the changes in its production 
and use in our society. For example, almost every 
research library now has some arrearages in the proc- 
essing of newly acquired materials. In some research 
libraries these arrearages constitute a very serious back- 
log of partially processed or unprocessed material. 
The acquisitions procedures of research libraries have 
become ponderous and slower than is desirable be- 
cause of the mass of detail that must be managed. 
Serial publications present increasingly complex prob- 
lems in ordering, the prompt claiming of missing 
issues, and the fiscal management and bibliographical 
identification of titles; yet serial publications are rap- 
idly increasing in number and in importance for re- 
search. There is a need for more intensive subject 
analysis of periodicals and other kinds of research mate- 
rial than is now possible for economic and other reasons. 
Concomitant with the growth and size of library col- 
lections is the growth in size and complexity of the 
card catalog which is getting more and more difficult 
to use merely because of its size and dispersion. Re- 
organization of the card catalog and the book collec- 
tion are almost impossible under present conditions. 

Most libraries have severe problems of space ; build- 
ings are relatively inflexible structures and accommo- 
4 



dation to the growing collection is difficult. Any at- 
tempt to make a useful distinction between widely used 
material and little used or useless material is very diffi- 
cult within the framework of present techniques and 
practices. Present library systems cannot accommo- 
date easily to providing a range of response times 
geared to the requirements of their users. Requests 
which should receive responses in a matter of minutes 
are generally handled by the same methods and tech- 
niques as those for which a delay of a day or two is 
acceptable. Manual techniques make it altogether 
impractical to provide the very rapid response required 
in many instances of manipulating and examining cata- 
logs or bibliographies. Moreover, the size of card 
catalogs has so strongly dictated two or three, rarely 
four or more, access points to a given work, that rigid 
cataloging systems (both subject and descriptive) have 
persisted. Subject headings and subject heading lists 
cannot be maintained at the level of currency required 
for effective retrieval. Finally there is too much dupli- 
cation of effort among the various research libraries 
that make up our national capability for communicat- 
ing recorded knowledge. This multiplication of effort 
pervades the cataloging process, the production of 
bibliographies, the function of acquisition, and even 
the contents of the collections. 

In science and technology the technical report litera- 
ture has not found its way, other than by exception, 
into the general corpus of research library materials 
and services. Almost all of the subject analysis of the 
scientific and technical periodical literature is provided 
by services operated outside research libraries. Cer- 
tain classes of literature, including reprints, preprints, 
specialized reports, abstracts, etc., are increasingly col- 
lected and circulated by decentralized and subject- 
specialized information centers. It is appropriate to 
raise the issue as to what extent specialized and tailor- 
made information services should be provided by the 
general research library if it is to avoid the role of a 
mere repository or a passive adjunct to the academic 
process. 



ASSESSMENT OF NEED 



5 



The resources of research libraries should be used 
more extensively than they now are in a great many of 
the present research activities in the arts and sciences, 
but in order for this to happen new technological aids 
for the library must be introduced. 

There is no simple measure of the usefulness of 
libraries, but their effect is observable in the quality of 
our intellectual endeavors. Large research libraries, 
mainly centered in the academic community, have al- 
ways played a vital role in the training of succeeding 
generations of leaders in every field of knowledge and 
enterprise. Libraries support academic research. 
They are the adjunct of our expanding culture and 
provide the connective with other cultures now and in 
the past. Despite their importance, however, they 
generally have had extremely limited resources made 
available to them. The burden of effective exploita- 
tion has thus always been, and will always be, on the 
user himself, but substantive techniques for Hghtening 
this burden have fallen far short of what could be done 
with increased resources. The "information explo- 
sion" has resulted in disproportionate increases in the 
complexity of subject interrelatedness, so that the user 
is faced with penetrating an almost impossibly com- 
plex reference maze that is growing more complex. 
The need for greater depth of subject control has made 
it increasingly difficult for librarians to organize their 
materials for the user's benefit, and the specialized in- 
dexing and abstracting services have filled only a part 
of this need. To some significant degree, a lack of 
rapport between large research libraries and the new 
class of information users has developed. For ex- 
ample, numerous specialized documentation centers 
have been established in industrial organizations. The 
cost of this, in duplicated acquisitions alone, is very 
high, and the effect on intellectual activities may be 
profound. 

It is possible to identify many different kinds of 
library users and user needs. They range from the 
individual who enters the library for intellectual rec- 
reation or self-improvement to the investigator who 
requires answers to a specific question stemming from 
his research. More often than not the investigator 
knows that he is unlikely to find a specific answer, but 
he goes to the library to obtain clues and suggestions. 
It is generally assumed by librarians that, within wide 
bounds, all purposes and interests have equal value, 
so that the serious research worker often competes for 
library service on virtually equal terms with all other 
users. In the future there should be greater focus 
upon the user who requires library facilities for sup- 



port of his research work, whatever the field of en- 
deavor. As libraries become more responsive to re- 
search needs, they are certain to be used much more 
extensively, and with greater efficiency, for research 
purposes. Thus, the total cost of automation must be 
judged against the anticipated, rather than the present, 
experience of library use. 

For the most part, the library today has completed 
its task when its materials are stored in an orderly 
fashion and when an item with probable relevance 
to the subject of inquiry can be identified and de- 
livered to the user. The library of the future should 
be one that actively participates by predicting the 
areas for which information will be needed and in 
minimizing the time the user must spend in ascertain- 
ing pertinence of library materials to his special 
interests. Several years ago optimism prevailed about 
what could be done in the area of automatic indexing, 
abstracting, etc., and much of the research in informa- 
tion retrieval currently in progress was started then. 
This optimism has been somewhat dissipated because 
solutions have been slow in coming or have not come 
at all. It has also been recognized that work to solve 
the more immediate problems of libraries has been 
underemphasized. In this report the point is made 
that both the immediate and future problems have a 
common source — the explosion in research activity — 
and have to be considered as a whole. The present 
systems for the bibliographic organization and display 
of the resources of large research libraries are not 
sufficiently adaptable to rapidly changing require- 
ments, and they no longer lead the serious investigator 
easily and directly to pertinent information. Changes 
are clearly needed if the incalculably valuable infor- 
mation housed in large research libraries is to be put 
to use by society. 

Publication patterns have been changing, partic- 
ularly since World War II, with the advent of the 
research report to the Government. Libraries have 
been criticized for their inability to assimilate new 
kinds of material within their traditional processing 
techniques. Also they have faltered, or depended 
upon other information services, in the indexing of 
serial literature. Essentially they have retained the 
book as the focus of their indexing and classification 
techniques, but books cannot have the currency that 
the modern tempo in research requires. Even journals 
are becoming too sluggish. The latest development 
is the growth in importance of preprints and mimeo- 
graphed memoranda. Libraries will have to develop 
capabilities for processing these new materials. Their 



6 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



nature does not differ in any substantial way from 
other library materials, but they can be looked upon 
as added burdens to the functions of acquisition, cata- 
loging', and reference for which library resources are 
already minimal. Since the unpublished report 
literature is not subjected to the same editorial sanc- 
tions or critical review processes as are published 
journal articles, it might be argued that these materials 
are of lower quality and do not deserve the same atten- 
tion as odier library materials. However, since there 
is much valuable information in the unpublished re- 
port literature that is not available elsewhere, this 
does suggest that more effort must be invested in 
identifying that portion which is of suitable quality 
for preservation. Automation can potentially con- 
tribute to the problem area of quality identification, 
descriptive cataloging, and subject indexing, and to 
storage and distribution through microform techniques. 

Because of the nature of modern technology, the 
benefits of automation would be realized first, and the 
cost supported, by the very large libraries. The li- 
braries of the United States, and indeed of other 
countries as well, hope that leadership for the evalua- 
tion and the implementation of automation will come 
from the Library of Congress. 

This brings us to the central question of our inquiry : 
Can automation be of help in an important way? 
Mechanization of current functions is not primarily 
what is meant, since, if this were to be the limit of the 
effort, many users would obviously be neglected be- 
cause the intellectual environment has changed, and 
they find themselves with needs not currently satisfied. 
Moreover, the real potential of automation would be 
sacrificed. Automation, even in areas where it is well 
established, can still be expected to yield much more 
than it has already. In the library, which is as yet 
virtually untouched, it is particularly important to 
avoid merely perpetuating past practices. Future 
possibilities and alternative ways to realize them must 
be kept in mind at every step of the way. In assessing 
the usefulness of automation, what we hope to achieve 
in the future is as important as what we know can be 
done now. 

Automation s Promise 

There is a spectrum of functions which automation 
can improve, ranging from purely routine processing 
chores, such as circulation control and the maintenance 
of serial records, to advanced information retrieval 



techniques. The routine processing operations of 
large research libraries are complex and are basic to 
all effective service to readers, but it is believed by 
the members of the team that the efficiency of many 
of these functions can be substantially improved with 
the assistance of automated procedures and equipment, 
and therefore these matters are not stressed in this 
report, although some details are given in the Appen- 
dix. Rather, emphasis is placed upon those catalog- 
searching and bibliographic functions which could 
greatly assist the user and expand the usefulness of 
large libraries in present-day research activity. A 
simple example is the assistance automation could give 
the user in establishing search trails through the various 
catalogs, indexes, and files. It is most important to 
observe that the immediate interests and demands of 
both the recordkeeping and bibliographic functions 
should be studied within the framework of a single sys- 
tem. There are many potentially serious pitfalls in 
the independent automation of the many separate 
functions, since this might result in creating grave 
difficulties in the ultimate realization of a totally inte- 
grated system. In the design study phase, it is recom- 
mended that both the routine processing and the as- 
sistance-to-search functions be considered simul- 
taneously. Whether or not these are finally 
implemented with the same equipment is yet to be 
determined. 

What then can be looked for? What are reasonable 
future goals toward which it is possible now to take at 
least some first steps? A general goal that influences 
all others is to make the library a more active organism. 
The catalogs of libraries must be transformed into dy- 
namic files of records that assist in their own use. Cata- 
logs, however, only direct the user to documents. We 
should also envision services that go at least one step 
further, that is, directly to information or at least to 
fragments or portions of documents. Depth of sub- 
ject control is at the basis for this hope and it should 
be recognized that such depth, although facilitated by 
automation, is not an inevitable consequence thereof. 
Through improving the flexibility of bibliographic con- 
trol and through increasing subject coverage in depth, 
particularly in many areas of science and technology, 
the possibility emerges that we can add a new dimen- 
sion to the library's usefulness and to its value as a 
national resource. Automation will contribute to this 
new dimension by making practical and economic cer- 
tain functions that would be extravagant within the 
framework of existing methods. 



SECTION III 



Assessment of Feasibility 



General Requirements 

In terms of information processing technology, the 
requirements of the Library of Congress may be cate- 
gorized as follows: 

L Storage of very large quantities of material in digital 
form (i.e., in a form machines can "read" ) . 

2. High-speed processing to manipulate the stored 
digital information. 

3. Storage of vast quantities of graphic material in a 
form which can be easily and quickly manipulated 
(principally photographs of pages of documents) . 

4. File conversion, e.g., the conversion of information 
now in card catalogs to machine-readable form. 

5. Retrieval of the documents themselves, i.e., printed 
books, periodicals, etc. 

6. Communication and display to the user of the vari- 
ous types of information within the system, both 
digital and graphic, e.g., catalog entries. 

7. Output printing, ranging from publication of the 
National Union Catalog to "throw-away hard copy" 
of individual bibliographies, etc. 

8. Communications with other libraries. 

Storage and Processing Requirements 

The distinctive feature of the Library of Congress, 
from the viewpoint of its impact on automation, is the 
enormous size of its holdings, totaling almost 42" mil- 
lion pieces (as of June 1962^, and requiring approxi- 
mately 270 miles of shelving and containing the equiv- 
alent of perhaps 10 14 bits of information. 1 The pres- 

1 A "bit" is the unit in which information is measured in 
communications and data-processing activities. It is an ele- 
ment in the simplest (two-element) code and is easily repre- 
sented in a machine by the on-off of a switch, the presence 
or absence of magnetization, etc. To encode digitally an 
average English word requires about 30 bits. A few extra 
bits, as prefixes, are required to accommodate other alphabets, 
font styles, etc. 

The Library collection consists of 42 million pieces of which 
13 million are books, bound newspapers, and serials; 18 



ent catalog files for this collection, if converted, would 
require 10 11 bits of memory capacity; 2 a memory 
capacity of 10 12 bits would probably be required to 
describe the Library's holdings at the anticipated rate 
of growth through the next generation. Vastly im- 
proved image storage in microphotographic form will 
also be necessary, for a long while, to complement the 
descriptive digital store. Here the objective should 
be to make microform more convenient for the user 
than a book. These demands for storage are a chal- 
lenge to the information-processing industry. 

On the other hand, the rate at which the stored 
material is changed is relatively low. Currently, on 
the order of 10 7 (at most 10 8 ) bits are changed or 
added per day in the course of Library operations 3 
as compared to 10 10 bits which are merely looked 
through without alteration. 4 Thus the processing re- 
million are manuscripts, leaving a remainder of material as 
diverse as maps, microprints, music, and photographs. To 
determine the total contents of the collection an arbitrary 
estimate of 100 pages per item and 1,000 words per page was 
made. This gives a total of 4 x 10 12 words in the Library. 
At a minimum of 5 characters per word, this would amount 
to about 10" for full conversion of the text of the contents 
of the Library of Congress. 

2 Exhibit 35 in the Appendix indicates that to convert the 
50 words of the average main entry card for each of the esti- 
mated 6,600,000 titles in the Library of Congress catalog 
would require conversion of 2 x 10" characters. At a mini- 
mum of 6 bits per character the digital conversion would 
require 10 10 bits; additional index files required by the system 
would yield a figure of at least 10 u . 

3 According to the analysis presented in Section IV of the 
Appendix about 4 million operations involving record altera- 
tion are now performed each year in the Library. (These 
operations include posting serial receipts, maintaining circu- 
lation records, etc.) . With 3,000 hours of operation per year, 
1.3 x 10 3 such operations are performed hourly. If we 
assume that for each operation an average of 10 3 bits of 
information is changed, then 1.3 x 10 8 bits of information 
are changed each hour; in an 8-hour workday this would 
amount to at least 10 7 bits of information altered or added. 

4 According to figures used for the cost study, the present 
catalog use is about 50 per minute for look-up operations. If 
we assume that one card is selected for each use and assume 
that 1,500 bits of information is average per card, then about 



8 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



quirement, though certainly not trivial, will be much 
less difficult to meet than the requirement for storage 
and access. 

M ultiple-Access Requirement 

The diversity of users of libraries has already been 
noted. As the files and contents of traditional libraries 
are divided into a large number of separate physical 
units (cards, books, etc.) , each user has somewhat inde- 
pendent access and the opportunity for an independent 
adjustment in his mode of use. The preservation of 
such flexibility in an automated library, where an 
enormous amount of information must be concentrated 
in one or only a few machines, is necessary, but will 
pose an extremely difficult problem of access. 

One approach to the problem is to design the central 
machines, stores, and processors to meet concurrent 
demands from a multiplicity of terminals, with appro- 
priate equipment at such terminal points. The ter- 
minal sets will have to be simple to use, yet provide a 
variety of possible interactions with the system. Many 
of these interactions will be very simple, for example, 
the request for a specific identifiable book, and for these 
a simple keyboard will suffice as a console. Other types 
of interactions will be of a more complex nature and 
will require an extensive dialogue between the user and 
the machine system. The console for this purpose will 
include a display device of some kind (possibly a 
cathode-ray tube) connected to the digital display or 
the microform viewer. It is possible that a third type 
of console intermediate in complexity between the two 
just described will be required. 

A detailed study must be carried out to determine the 
relative importance, in terms of the workload, of the 
various console functions to be performed by the user. 
The system should then be designed to minimize the 
idle time of all consoles and to avoid the use of expen- 
sive or complex consoles for carrying out relatively sim- 
ple operations. The use of consoles should be avoided 
altogether, when it can be done without loss of response 
time and flexibility. 

A large fraction of the bibliographic product of the 
Library of Congress can be produced on an assembly- 
line basis with printed catalogs and bibliographies as 

8x10* bits of information are selected each minute, or about 
4 x 10 7 operations per day. With the reasonable assumption 
that to select the desired card at least 100 bits of information 
are scanned on 10 cards, then 1 10 is a reasonable approxi- 
mation of the present daily look-up operation. 



the output. For many requests placed on the system 
by users, a printed catalog may serve the purpose as 
well as a console, and the choice as to which facility is 
provided should then be based largely on economic 
factors. 

Most consoles should have a simple intercommuni- 
cation system or telephone to provide communication 
with reference librarians. Reference librarians should, 
in turn, have access to other librarians in the country 
by means of a communication network, for example, a 
teletype. 

Printing Requirements 

The Library of Congress provides a valuable service 
to other libraries through the distribution of its printed 
catalog cards, lists of holdings, and book catalogs. The 
availability of an automated catalog will permit the 
computer to be used to compile special bibliographies 
and to produce, as required, specialized catalogs of 
various kinds. 

Where depth of subject control is desirable, these 
catalogs or bibliographies should exploit to the ex- 
tent practical the products of subject-specialized in- 
dexing and abstracting services. Printed and bound 
supplements to The National Union Catalog should be 
issued bimonthly and cumulated at least quarterly, 
yearly, and on a 5-year basis. Production quantity 
should be between 1,000 and 5,000 in order to provide 
multiple-copy distribution to 60 or so major research 
libraries and single-copy distribution to other research 
libraries and public libraries. 

Under the present system, subject headings are con- 
tinually being added or revised, but the subject heading 
list incorporating these changes is printed only every 
few years, with supplements issued between editions. 
This list should be revised and reprinted yearly; dis- 
tribution in the hundreds is required. 

The printing and production of specialized bibliog- 
raphies will be another major requirement of the 
system. Many of these bibliographies will be produced 
in editions of less than 100 copies and may vary in 
length from 1 to 50 pages. It is roughly estimated that 
possibly up to 1,000 per day would have to be pro- 
duced. Further detailed study is necessary in order 
to determine this volume. 

Part of this demand for special bibliographies will 
be met directly at the user console, where a brief bib- 
liography may be produced in hard copy as an im- 
mediate response to a request. The bulk of the bibli- 



ASSESSMENT OF FEASIBILITY 



9 



ographies produced, however, will be on a time scale 
of a half day or so, rather than on an immediate de- 
mand basis. In the Appendix to this report data are 
given, on the basis of which volume estimates of the 
required printing load may be made. (See page 69.) 

Legibility to permit the rapid scanning of the printed 
product is an important requirement that implies a 
capability for printing in a variety of type fonts and 
sizes. Output printers for computer systems have ade- 
quate speed but poor readability; for the most part, 
they print in a single style and only in uppercase letters. 
A variety of type styles, weights, and sizes are needed 
to meet the standards of Library publication. 

A remote printing capability may also be needed to 
provide rapid access to holdings for libraries using 
the Library of Congress as a repository; however, a 
careful study must be made of response times actually 
required, since quite possibly they can be met with 
centralized printing and mail distribution. 

The requirement for high-speed, high-quality, multi- 
font printers has been recognized by several designers 
of other systems both in Government and commerce. 
It is believed that equipment meeting the needs of the 
proposed system for the Library will be available in the 
near future. 

Feasibility of Storage, Processing, and Input 

Within recent years technology has addressed itself 
to the foregoing problems; the technical feasibility of 
meeting all the requirements outlined can be demon- 
strated in development laboratories. 

Specifically, it is now feasible to meet storage and 
access requirements for catalogs and indexes suitable 
for an automated Library of Congress system (from 
1CP to 10 12 bits) . Equipment with rapid access to 
over a billion bits is already commercially available, 
and it is a reasonable assumption that the demands of 
a library system could be met in the near future at a 
reasonable cost. 

The data-processing requirements (on the order of 
10 9 bits daily) are already being met in somewhat 
similar systems that must provide "on demand" serv- 
ices. The terminal sets, for both input and output 
functions, are technically feasible, but they need more 
development work to be adapted to the functions of 
the Library of Congress system. 

Communications media for the transmission of digi- 
tal and graphic material have been developed recently 
at the technical level to be practical for the system 



visualized, and a variety of transducers for conveying 
information between terminal sets or data processors 
and communications networks are now available. 

Feasibility of File Conversion 

The process of converting information from textual 
form to machine-readable form, which is necessary for 
both the transition to an automated system and its 
continual updating, is itself a subject of considerable 
importance. This conversion could be accomplished 
with traditional methods of keypunching or typing 
with simultaneous punching on paper tape. 

The conversion of catalog cards is an enormous 
task; the National Union Catalog, for example, con- 
tains about 15 million cards with an average of ap- 
proximately 50 words per card. Running text can 
be keypunched and verified at roughly one cent per 
word. At this rate the complete conversion of the 
National Union Catalog would cost about $7.5 mil- 
lion. However, the heavy mixture of numerals and 
the necessity for a certain amount of formatting, error 
correction, and quality control suggest that the one- 
cent-per-word figure may be somewhat low. 

The automatic conversion of stenotyping is being 
actively pursued with the aim of reducing the cost 
of file conversion. Automatic print-reading devices 
are under development and may at some future date 
provide a partial solution to the problem. 

The technique of file conversion requires further 
research and development. This activity will un- 
doubtedly result in a method of converting the Li- 
brary's catalogs into machine-readable form in the 
near future at an acceptable cost. 

Microform Storage 

The microform storage of page images and graphic 
records has been addressed traditionally to preserva- 
tion of materials, saving of space, and facilitating the 
duplication and distribution of library materials. The 
miniaturized record is intended for human consump- 
tion and of itself has nothing to do with the machine 
processing of information. 

The problems of cataloging, indexing, and classify- 
ing, as well as the coding and recording of such in- 
formation, can be considered independently of the 
question of microstorage. To be sure, there are sys- 
tems of microform storage which combine both a digi- 



10 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



tal code and a graphic image in a single record, but 
these systems represent particular approaches which 
must be evaluated on a speed and cost basis when a 
detailed systems design study is undertaken. It should 
be noted diat text words in stored micro-images are 
not accessible to machine processing any more so than 
are words on a printed page. 

The issue of microform storage and its applicability 
within large research libraries depends strongly on the 
question of economics. The expense of storing a 
bound full-size book must be compared with the ex- 
pense of recording it in microform plus producing 
enlarged hard copy as necessary. The speed of access 
in the two cases must be compared with the require- 
ment for access. 

Requirements for access time cannot be explicity 
formulated at this stage, but certain observations can 
be made. Immediately following a catalog search, 
or the production of a brief special bibliography, the 
requester may wish to examine certain portions of 
books before requesting the books themselves. Por- 
tions might include title page, table of contents, index, 
or perhaps a few selected pages of text which would 
permit judging the level of technical detail or other 
characteristics of the work. 

Ideally, this graphic material should be delivered 
for perusual within seconds. If a batch of contiguous 
material is requested, such as successive pages of a 
report, then a more stringent requirement exists for 
sequencing back and forth from a page in about J/5 of 
a second. 5 To make a few essential pages from each 
work available, and with only partial selection of 
books, journals, newspapers, and reports within the 
Library of Congress, it will still be necessary to record 
upwards of 5 million images, and perhaps eventually 
several times this amount; any given page-image must 
be accessible within several seconds. 

Microstorage for certain types of archival material 
or complete books will have access-time requirements 
that may vary from minutes up to a day or so. The 
volume requirement here is difficult to estimate, but 
will depend primarily on the economic balance be- 
tween the cost of hard-copy storage and the cost of 
miniaturization and subsequent enlargement. This 
basic form of storage has long been used in libraries, 
but with primitive mechanization and very slow 
access. 

To the reader a delay of more than J/5 of a second is suffi- 
ciently annoying to reduce the appeal, and hence the use, of 
the system. 



In the past decade great strides have been made so 
that the technology is certain to be of greater im- 
portance to libraries than it has been. Automatic 
stores holding millions of images are available. Their 
drawbacks are low speed and high cost. Images can 
be located and reproduced from these stores in sec- 
onds, but even this may be too slow for compatibility 
with other aspects of automation and the mode of use 
envisioned. The feasibility of devices in the required 
speed range has already been proved in research and 
development laboratories and with technology that 
does not appear to be inherently expensive. 

Feasibility of Automated Stack Storage 
and Retrieval 

A significant feature that poses difficulty in most 
large research libraries is the inflexibility of the "mar- 
riage" between the bibliographic catalogs and the 
physical arrangement of library holdings. There 
should be a complete independence of the physical 
location of items from their descriptive mapping in 
the catalogs and files. Such independence will en- 
courage the physical storage of material on the basis 
of probability of use, where this is practical, or in 
special compact storage, browsing, or reference collec- 
tions. Automation can facilitate such independence. 

There is the possibility that the form in which knowl- 
edge is recorded, stored, and distributed will change 
appreciably within the next decade. Progress in re- 
production techniques, particularly from microfilm, 
has been so rapid that the circulation of most docu- 
ments in their printed form may become unnecessary. 
There is also likely to be a trend toward publication 
"on demand" from text prepared in machine-readable 
form. With the possibility of such radical changes to 
take into account, there is some question as to whether 
or not it would be worth automating the physical re- 
trieval of books from the collection in its present form. 

Present methods of physically retrieving library hold- 
ings certainly leave much to be desired and will seem 
worse as automation increases the speed of biblio- 
graphic access. The problem can be simply stated. 
The time required to extract a book from the stacks 
and deliver it to a central point should be substantially 
reduced. The advanced state of technology in the 
area of mechanical manipulation is an inducement for 
change. Nevertheless, the investment that would be 
required, in terms of both money for equipment and 



ASSESSMENT OF FEASIBILITY 



11 



effort for the transitional description, appears too great 
to expend except in new or renovated libraries. 

A hidden danger is that such an investment might 
tend to deter the adoption of the far more significant 
changes in storage and publication technology men- 
tioned above. Thus, while the desirability for im- 
proved physical handling cannot be denied, the exact 
requirement will depend on the consequences of 
changes in information handling, which must be given 
priority. The door, however, should be left open to 
clever invention. No approach yet proposed appears 
to have sufficient merit to justify implementation, but 
new ideas could still change the picture. 

State of Information Science 

Intimately connected with technical feasibility is the 
understanding of how information should be organized 
in the files and processed to answer the demands on 
the system. The nature of the data is quite different 
from that which the computing industry encountered 
in business and scientific work and learned to handle 
so well. Libraries consist essentially of collections of 
words in text. These words are combined and have 
significance to humans that, in our present state of 
knowledge, cannot be expressed in terms of machine 
rules. Thus they cannot be normalized or put in 
uniform format without their character being changed 
and information lost. 

Present automation techniques do not deal ade- 
quately with raw text. At the outset only catalogs, 
inventory files, and indexes should be considered for 
automation. Even here, to use these in a sophisticated 
manner, it may be necessary (and there should be no 
reluctance) to insert manual processing and human 
decisions when they are essential or too expensive to 
replace. 

The economic and technical feasibility of automati- 
cally retrieving information directly from the text of 
documents has not yet been established and is an ex- 
tremely complex subject. For this reason, there is 
likely to be greater emphasis for some years on the 
retrieval of bibliographic information. The initial 
objective in the proposed Library system is to use auto- 
mation to discover which documents are related to the 
user's information needs. Even during the initial 
stages, however, automation should allow much richer 
cross-referencing and descriptive labeling. 



A most desirable goal, and a feasible one, is a system 
that could accept the user's experience as feedback and 
thus evolve toward greater capability. This could be 
achieved in several ways. Users' annotations on sub- 
ject classification or assignment of subject headings 
could be accepted as input at the console, subjected to 
further review and editing by a librarian and then in- 
corporated, as desirable, in the system. Users could 
also comment on the similarity or relatedness of spe- 
cific papers, reports, or books which they utilize. The 
idea of accepting user experience as a feedback to the 
system can be looked upon as amplifying or supple- 
menting citations made by the author. Author cita- 
tions have traditionally served as valuable reference 
tools. 

A fairly wide range of novel techniques of this kind 
deserves further study and exploration in order to in- 
sure that future automated libraries will be highly 
flexible in adapting themselves to user requirements. 

Conclusion 

The automation of the bibliographical control of the 
Library of Congress is not only technically feasible 
but could provide a system more responsive to users 
and more adaptive to changes in user needs, Library 
operating conditions, publication practices, the na- 
tional research library system, and information tech- 
nology. 

For some time, however, costs will remain a prob- 
lem for all the data-processing and microstorage equip- 
ment, but they can be predicted to follow a post- 
developmental curve downward. A further pull 
downward could be exerted if demands from libraries 
and similar systems were consolidated to allow a uni- 
form manufacturing attack. A cost study based on 
actual and estimated prices shows that by 1972 the 
cumulative costs for automation of the central bibli- 
ographic control functions of the Library of Congress 
system would be comparable to costs for continuing the 
current manual system. 6 

6 Reported in Appendix I. Sections VI, VII, and IX of 
the study are most pertinent to cost problems. Note that this 
study shows a break-even point by 1972 for those operations 
included in the $30 million cost estimate. The team recom- 
mends that $50 to $70 million be spent to provide, in addi- 
tion, automation of operations not now performed by the 
Library. For these operations no comparable manual system 
exists, nor was one projected for the purpose of cost 
comparisons. 



SECTION IV 



Projection of a System 



In order to assess feasibility and to estimate costs, 
a partially automated library is described, completely 
implementable by 1972 and capable of working in 
parallel with the existing system on a transitional basis 
by 1969. Many systems may be hypothesized; no 
claim is made that the one presented is ideal, since 
designing an appropriate system will be part of the 
task of implementing the recommendations of the 
survey team. It is, however, a reasonable system in 
terms of short- and long-range goals, and is used solely 
to illustrate the possibilities of automation concretely 
in terms of present Library of Congress operations. 

The survey team identified the following as func- 
tions that could be improved by automation, and the 
proposed system was designed to facilitate these as a 
minimum. 

1. Accounting and management control. 

2. Record management for procurement and process- 
ing activities, including serials. 

3. Development of cataloging aids (authority files, 

etc.). 

4. Cataloging and catalog maintenance. 

5. Searching of catalogs and files. 

6. Circulation control. 

7. Presentation of information to librarians and users. 

8. Publication of cards, catalogs, bibliographies, and 
indexes. 

9. Communications with other libraries and agencies. 

Operational Description 

The projected system consists of a variety of files, 
heterogeneous in nature, but susceptible to examina- 
tion with the same equipment and mode of search. 
A set of input-output consoles allows both user and 
librarian to have essentially instantaneous access to 
any file. 

The computer program, a part of which may be 
thought of as linking the consoles and stored files, 
provides a method of search for each question, adapt- 
12 



ing the search sequence to the user's needs. Thus, the 
system can be regarded as both a learning machine 
and a teaching machine. 

Notwithstanding the emphasis given here to the con- 
sole mode of operation, it should be understood that 
there are many processing requirements in the system 
which will not depend upon use of a console. Many, 
if not most, of the bibliographies produced in multiple 
copy will be associated with relatively long response 
times, such as a day or so, or else will be prepared in 
accordance with standing requirements for which 
there may well be a weekly cycle. Even longer cycles 
pertain to the preparation of large catalogs and pos- 
sibly to large bibliographies. Accordingly, many com- 
puter programs for searching the automated catalog, 
preparing an initial bibliography, editing such bibli- 
ography, and finally formatting to produce a printed 
product must be written. 

Systems such as those in operation at the National 
Library of Medicine and at the Office of Scientific and 
Technical Information of the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration should be studied 
thoroughly during the systems design phase and the 
lessons learned therefrom appropriately taken into ac- 
count. None of the services or products of these 
centers should be duplicated within the Library of 
Congress, but operations with similar purposes should 
be established in areas not covered by such specialized 
services. 

A major task of the systems design effort it to insure 
that the technology recommmended is suitable for both 
the console mode of operation and the required as- 
sembly-line method of production. 

Cataloging. The function of matching an item of 
information in hand against the information in files 
and catalogs is one that is present in virtually every 
library operation. This search and match process is 
used to determine whether a recommended item is in 
the Library's collections, whether a received item is 
the one that was ordered, whether an author entry 
has been previously established, whether the work is 



PROJECTION OF A SYSTEM 



13 



present in another edition, etc. Undoubtedly cata- 
loging is of prime importance in generating the tool to 
support this search function. The detailed manner 
in which the proposed system converges on the cata- 
loging process is shown in Exhibit 1 of the Appendix. 
The system permits the cataloger to have rapid access 
to any portion of the authority file, the central library 
catalog, and other files that he might not otherwise 
have approached. Searching can thus be reduced to 
a minimum, freeing the cataloger for the more intel- 
lectual aspects of descriptive and subject analysis. 

The expansion of subject analysis in greater depth 
will become possible. This is impractical in existing 
libraries because of the bulkiness of card catalogs and 
the inconvenience to humans working with very large 
files. With an expanded file the necessity for the user 
to learn the librarian's language may be reduced. 
Another advantage will be that special catalogs and 
bibliographies can be produced on a more sophisti- 
cated basis, without the need for special procedures. 
All the responses which the card catalog can now give 
will be retained, but these do not approach the com- 
plexity or variety of questions a research investigator 
is capable of posing. An automated card catalog 
can meet more demands, even guiding users in their 
line of inquiry (as explained in the folio wing para- 
graphs on the use of consoles) . 

It should not be supposed, however, that depth in 
subject analysis is a necessary and inevitable conse- 
quence of automation, nor should it be assumed that 
such depth will be uniform throughout the holdings 
of the Library of Congress. It should be noted that 
considerable depth of subject control already exists in 
many of the specialized indexing and abstracting 
services. 

Even in a future system, however, it will not be 
economically sensible to attempt to control every page 
in every book, document, and journal article in the 
Library of Congress to the same depth as is currently 
done by these services. Automation will make less 
costly the expansion of subject control to areas not pres- 
ently so covered, but, in the last analysis, the decision 
as to which areas, and how extensively, will have to be 
made on an economic basis. Furthermore, depth in 
control should in no case duplicate any of the func- 
tions performed outside of the Library of Congress by 
the more specialized services. Rather, the system 
should be designed to accommodate the output of these 
specialized services and to provide similar services 
in areas not now covered. 

; 



Use of Consoles by Library Clients. In the 
fully operational system, the query console is intended 
for the individual user. Because some experience will 
be required for effective manipulation of the console, it 
would be desirable at the outset to have a reference 
librarian perform the console manipulation. Care- 
ful consideration during the design study should be 
given to the workload corresponding to the various 
console operations. With such data, design criteria for 
several types of consoles, from simple numerical key- 
boards to intricate display and input devices, can be 
developed. The following functional description ap- 
plies primarily to the more sophisticated consoles. 
User access to the console will provide a catalog-brows- 
ing capability which will be enhanced by the ability of 
the system to provide hard copy of any item displayed 
on the console screen. Thus, in viewing a given 
sequence of bibliographic entries, the user will be able 
to retain copies of those entries which interest him for 
further consideration or for record purposes. 

A capability for relatively elaborate dialogues be- 
tween the user and the catalog is an important require- 
ment for the more complex consoles. The query-input 
keys should essentially be of two types, "process keys" 
that initiate entire computer subroutines, and "data 
keys" that permit the entry of alphabetical and nu- 
merical data. The alphanumeric keyboard should in- 
clude a local display to permit the immediate checking 
of keyed information before it is finally entered into 
the computer system. The displays themselves must 
be alphanumeric, but a line drawing capability is not 
required. Particular care must go into the design of 
the process keys and into the computer programs that 
they implement, because in this area lie the means 
to the simplicity and flexibility which are so necessary 
to the user-console approach. Information displayed 
in response to commands initiated at the console should 
provide statistical and bibliographical data of maxi- 
mum use to the requester in formulating the next stage 
of his request. 

If the query is too broad or vague, the system should 
not deluge the questioner with all the references avail- 
able but should indicate to him first the fact that he 
has asked too broad a question. For example, the 
reader might ask for an edition of Shakespeare's Ham- 
let. The first response from the system might be that 
the Library has 374 editions of this work and that a 
printed bibliography is available. A display on the 
console screen indicates to the user ways in which he 
could narrow his query, e.g., by specifying language, 



14 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



date, type of edition: translation, illustrated, abridged, 
student edition, etc. The user can then "fill in the 
blanks" and indicate that he is, for example, inter- 
ested only in recent English-language student edi- 
tions. The system would then indicate the number 
of editions which filled this criteria and, depending 
on the number and the user's needs, he could further 
refine his query, scan the catalog entries for the rele- 
vant editions on the console screen, or request a printed 
listing of the entries. 

If the reader decides to scan the catalog entries, the 
equivalent of a catalog card or a set of several cards 
would be displayed on the console screen. The opera- 
tor could then press the "Sequence" key and immedi- 
ately the following "cards" would be presented. This 
could be repeated until the end of the sequence for the 
given author's name. 

If the operator at any point wishes to refer to a 
previous card, he may do so by pressing the "Back 
Sequence" key. Each console will have available to 
it a buffer file (for example a magnetic disk) that re- 
cords the information received from the central catalog 
store. A standard type of buffer might hold the con- 
tents of 100 cards (roughly 200,000 bits) . Thus, the 
operator, by a query or succession of queries, will be 
able to build up a private "card" file, then readily refer 
to the material he has collected by pressing the "Se- 
quence" and "Back Sequence" keys. 

This mode of operation is intended as an example 
only and other possibilities can be envisioned. A user 
may choose to specify that only a portion of the in- 
formation on each catalog card, such as author and 
title, be listed in order to permit viewing many more 
at the same time and minimize the back and forth 
sequencing operation. In effect then, he is presented 
with a trial bibliographic listing; he may then call for 
additional information, such as may be present on a 
complete catalog card, or he may require a display 
(probably from a microform image) of selected pages 
of the work itself. The buffer is also suggested as an 
example only, since alternative ways of providing the 
required capability may be conceived. The buffer 
may possibly be an allocated portion of the main 
memory, which may or may not be time-shared among 
several consoles, depending upon workload factors. 

After the perusal of this visual material, the user 
may decide to record the information, i.e., copy the 
"catalog cards." The "Hard-Copy" key may be 
pressed, with the result that a printout of the informa- 
tion is automatically produced at the console on a piece 
of paper for the user. 



The user may decide to obtain the item indicated 
on the display from the collection. Several alterna- 
tives are possible. In the transition period, he could 
obtain the hard-copy printout, take it to the call desk, 
and obtain the item by the present manual method. 
In a more automated system he could press the "Call" 
key. The item number or numbers that he designated 
on the display would automatically go through the 
system and result in the items being physically delivered 
to him at or near the console. 

So far we have assumed that the requester's re- 
quirement was for a specific identifiable book or report 
and that he knew the author's name. The system 
must also accept various other kinds of descriptive 
tags, such as date, language, publisher, etc., in order 
to present to the user a bibliography of all items which 
meet a stated request, even though such request may 
contain only a part of the information normally re- 
quired in a conventional system. 

Another kind of request is one in which the user 
needs subject access to the library holdings. In this 
situation he would key in a subject name and press the 
"Subject File" key. Here we have a more compli- 
cated matter, for the user may specify terms which 
differ from those used by the cataloger. Thus, the first 
thing the system must do is transform the user's terms, 
by a process similar to that now used for language 
translation, into terms meaningful to the system. For 
example, if "insurgence" were keyed in as a subject 
term, it might be translated to one or several headings, 
for example, "insurrection." This term would be dis- 
played to the user for his information and would also 
augment his original word as the subject of search. In 
many instances there will be ambiguities. A research 
worker may be expert in the terminology of his own 
field without being aware that some of these terms 
have quite different meanings in other subject fields. 
If, for example, the user keys in "bonds," the display 
might show: 

"adhesives" 

"bonding agencies" 

"chemical valence" 

"securities" 

The user would then select one or more by pressing 
appropriate keys, which then cause the subject file 
to be searched automatically. Again, the first display 
would probably be the number of items under this 
heading and a suggestion for further restriction of the 
question. 

At first the display will be equivalent to catalog cards 
or to a bibliographic listing, as noted earlier. As addi- 



PROJECTION OF A SYSTEM 



15 



tional files are assembled and integrated into the sys- 
tem, the catalog will be made a far more flexible tool. 
In time the system will be capable of suggesting that 
a given subject is analyzed in a different or deeper way 
in the catalog of another library. It will also be able 
to indicate that the subject is well treated in certain 
encyclopedias, and, as a convenience, it should allow 
the user to call for the pertinent article from either a 
digital or microform file and display it for him. It is 
essential that this system be compatible with the trend 
to convert documents to film by microphotography. 
The first use of microform images to extend the library 
catalog will be in displaying tide pages and tables of 
contents. 

Use of Consoles by Library Staff. The console 
for use by the library staff, in the acquisitions and 
cataloging operations, may or may not be identical to 
one of the several types of user consoles, but in any 
event the requirements for its use are somewhat differ- 
ent. For reference assistance to the user, it is assumed 
here that the librarians will have access to a user con- 
sole. To illustrate the use of the staff console, consider 
the process of descriptive cataloging. 

The basic input to the system is the title page data 
typed in by the cataloger. Edit programs for the 
processor would be written to execute most of the 
normalization of the data on the title page to the 
form of a Library of Congress card. These opera- 
tions consist of properly arranging information, select- 
ing font styles, referring to the authority file, the 
National Union Catalog, etc. An accession or item 
number would be automatically generated and dis- 
played. A preliminary "card" would very rapidly be 
written by the program and displayed at the console, 
together with unresolved questions. The cataloger 
would then edit this material at the console until a per- 
fect Library of Congress "card" would be displayed, at 
which point, by a control, he would send it to tempo- 
rary (quick writing) storage. Here it would be used in 
another program, and material would be developed 
from its contents for assignment to all appropriate 
files — author, subject, etc. No typing or preparation 
of paper documents or cards would be necessary. 

Librarians in other libraries would have consoles 
similar to those at the Library of Congress and would 
be able to use them for monitoring the status, of 
processing. This would be necessary because, with 
high-speed capability, the Library of Congress would 
be able to do the cataloging for almost all new items. 
For items not in the Library of Congress but held by 
other libraries, cataloging information could be trans- 



mitted for inclusion in the Library of Congress catalog. 
If this information were fragmentary, it could be fully 
elaborated by the automated cataloging system at the 
Library of Congress for retransmission to the initiat- 
ing library. Furthermore, other libraries in the system 
could then obtain the complete data, possibly via dis- 
play consoles if rapid response were needed, in order 
to prepare catalog cards for their own files. Librar- 
ians at the outlying libraries, however, would not 
have the capability of changing any of the basic Li- 
brary of Congress files. Further study of remote con- 
sole use should be carried out during the design of the 
system since it can be foreseen that a good part of the 
requirement of communication with outlying libraries 
can be met by a communications system (e.g., tele- 
type, dataphone, etc.) and with response times much 
longer than are implied by display consoles. 

Methods of Search. So far the system has been 
described as consisting of two basic elements: means 
of storing catalog and index information, and means 
of display, with rapid access, to the user. There is a 
third element, the implementation of a search proce- 
dure. These search procedures may be very simple, 
but the capability for very complex searches should 
exist. The system must therefore be designed to ac- 
commodate, without radical changes in equipment or 
undue additional expense, the advent of new search 
techniques developed either by experience with the sys- 
tem itself or as a result of research in the field of li- 
brary and information science. 

In order to be usable, material within a library 
must be indexed, classified, and cataloged, by all meth- 
ods, both subject and descriptive, that are commonly 
used to gain access to bibliographic materials. This 
analysis is done either extrinsically by assigning labels, 
e.g., subject headings, or intrinsically by the direct 
use of words occurring within the material itself. Un- 
der present cataloging practices, titles and authors' 
names represent the limit of intrinsic indexing. It has 
to be recognized that to improve retrieval of informa- 
tion more extensive intrinsic indexing is mandatory. 
In fact, it is desirable for certain types of material that 
portions of the text itself be made accessible. A mini- 
mal requirement for all material in the library is for 
intrinsic indexing to include at least the present de- 
scriptive information, such as title, authors, publisher, 
imprint date, etc. 

With regard to extrinsic indexing, such indexes as 
shelf number and accession number can be generated 
automatically. Subject analysis at present requires 
human effort, and is a processing bottleneck. Never- 



10 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



theless it clearly must be expanded and improved. It 
is obvious that present subject analysis by the Library 
of Congress makes no pretense at coverage in depth. 
The average number of subject headings assigned to 
a book is between one and two, even though a dozen 
subjects may be dealt with. It has been mentioned 
that any decision to achieve subject control in depth 
will be limited by economic factors, and that maximal 
advantage should be taken of output already provided 
in specialized subject areas by indexing and abstract- 
ing services. Certain initial and limited steps should 
be further studied, for example, recording the tables 
of contents of books and journals in machine-readable 
form. An automatic indexing procedure then could 
permit a reasonably accurate assignment of subject 
descriptors. Some experimental evidence exists to in- 
dicate that this technique, applied to highly technical 
material, is as successful as human subject analysis in 
depth of similar material. 

A fundamental principle of library systems analysis 
is that the indexes to the intellectual content of a 
document be divorced conceptually from the physical 
storage of that document. As the future automated 
library is conceived here, index material should be 
recorded in a memory specifically designed for digital 
storage. Independence of digital index data from 
graphic records generally provides a flexibility not 
otherwise possible, and certainly not practicable at 
present in the Library of Congress. For example, 
under the existing system, if a change of classification 
is desirable, not only the book labels must be changed 
and all changes reflected in the card catalogs, but the 
books themselves must be moved. By giving the physi- 
cal documents merely a permanent accession number 
and arranging the library by manipulating records 
within the machine, changes can be made at low cost 
and high speed. In this context, "changes" means 
desirable regroupings of index material with growth of 
the library, with changes in human knowledge and 
in the analysis of it, and with the advances in informa- 
tion retrieval. 

Another important feature of the system, as cur- 
rently conceived, is that, by proper construction of 
the files, different schemes of subject analysis, includ- 
ing those of specialized libraries, can be used in the 
system simultaneously. Then the user of the system 
will have the choice and be advised of different analy- 
ses of the material in which he is interested. A large 
variety of indexes must be made available; the cost 
and space requirements of storage in a machine must 



be studied and compared with what would be required 
to house and manipulate equivalent card files or book 
catalogs. 

The design objective in automation should center 
on responsiveness to the user and not on automation 
as an end in itself. The basic user requirements in 
volve searching for desired material in response to 
a specific need, and this implies that the files must 
not be dead lists but must provide their own references 
while still accommodating decision and choice of path 
by the user. The files will be dynamic in the sense 
that the search is automatically transferred from one 
reference to another until a satisfactory compilation 
of selective material is achieved. Further study must 
be conducted on efficient methods for storing and 
searching for information. This must be done as part 
of the design study in close coordination with the 
planning of equipment, since the particular methods of 
search to be implemented may depend strongly on the 
equipment itself. The following description of a 
series of tables in which a search process is referred 
from one to the next in a serial fashion is intended 
as an example only. 

Search Tables. It is simpler to begin with the final 
stage of the search, which is the location of the re- 
quired item. This will be accomplished by a table 
relating two indexes, the item number (permanently 
assigned to an item and physically attached thereto), 
and its current location number. The latter may re- 
flect that the item is checked out or at the bindery. 
Thus upon looking up an item by its number, the 
first step will be a reference (e.g., in the not-on-shelf 
file) . The result of this look-up is an automatic ref- 
erence to the next subsidiary table to be searched — 
various process files, circulation files, etc. 

The identification of an item leading to its location 
and use can also be accomplished through table look- 
up. In support of a central file of numbered items 
described in essentially the form consonant with ac- 
cepted library practice (but not constrained thereby) , 
there will be tables which relate authors, titles, sub- 
jects, and other attributes to item numbers. These 
tables will be approached (automatically) sequentially 
to effect identification of single items or groups of items 
by author, subject, or other discriminating criteria 
(year of publication, language, etc.). When the au- 
thor's exact name or the exact form of the subject term 
is lacking, the system would provide automatic refer- 
ence to other tables or files which will make the needed 
names or terms available. In addition there will be 



PROJECTION OF A SYSTEM 



17 



tutorial tables describing to the user facts about the 
system and suggestions for directing his search. 

A feature which must be emphasized in character- 
izing all of these files is their formal nature as tables 
giving logical steps to be taken next. Specifically, each 
entry has an index by which it is searched, an outcome 
which may or may not be presented on a console, and 
a reference to the next table which should be referred 
to, either automatically or at the choice of the user 
of the console. 

Use of Microform Storage. It has been pointed 
out earlier that the traditional purpose of microform 
storage has been to save space and permit easier du- 
plication and distribution of library materials. The 
graphic record produced is for human consumption, 
not for machine processing; thus provision must be 
made for rapid mechanical handling and access to 
these graphic records for presentation to humans. 

Depending upon the particular equipment used to 
implement such access, there may be considerable flex- 
ibility in the organization of the microform file in order 
to accommodate new accessions without a burden- 
some interfiling process. Items may be entered into 
the store merely in some convenient order (e.g., 
chronologically by accession) and assigned a location 
number, which will be placed in the automated catalog. 
Thus, after the system finds a desired item in the cata- 
log, the user will have it displayed immediately on the 
console by specifying its location number. The capa- 
bility to retrieve microform images of title pages, tables 
of contents, and indexes, as well as sample pages taken 
from the work itself, will be exceedingly useful in 
supplementing catalog searching as part of the brows- 
ing process. It is essential therefore that, to meet this 
requirement, the system respond within a few seconds 
in sending the images called for. Successive pages of 
a single work should be presented with a still faster 
response time. 

The nature of the material to be stored in microform 
covers a wide spectrum, and the limit is one of eco- 
nomics. It may be practical to put catalog cards in 
this form for some purposes. However, even at the 
start, it will be necessary to have this information in 
digital form as well, for manipulation by computer 
programs. Other reference materials, such as ency- 
clopedias, bibliographies, newspapers, journals, book 
title pages, chapter headings, abstracts, and indexes, 
will be stored in microform as the system develops. 
Ultimately the complete text of many books will be 
stored in microform, although the balance between 



this and conventional hard-copy techniques will be 
governed by cost factors. A great potential of micro- 
form storage is that it may permit methods of publica- 
tion whereby an individual could assemble a 
tailormade book on any desired topic from a variety of 
references. The assembly feature will be part of the 
retrieval program, and editing could be carried out at 
the console. 

The automated library system as projected will pro- 
vide for only minimal use of microform at the outset 
but will be designed to accommodate substantial 
growth in this phase of its operation, as needs, funds, 
and technology permit. 

System Characteristics 

The paragraphs above contain some hints of radical 
changes in library functions. It is therefore worth 
reemphasizing that the proposed system has as its pri- 
mary aim the improvement of certain present library 
functions, specifically those functions listed on page 12. 
The only gain to be realized initially will be in proc- 
essing rates and the degree to which holdings are made 
accessible. As a byproduct, however, the system 
should generate a complete record of its transactions, 
thus allowing an evaluation of its performance to an 
extent that is presently impossible. 

The system as proposed will be much more func- 
tionally flexible than the present manual system. Basic 
alterations in the present system are too cumbersome 
to consider, and even experimentation requires too 
much effort. With the streamlining of clerical opera- 
tions and the high speed of response, it will become 
practical to experiment with parallel analyses and de- 
scriptions of the same material. In time the user 
should be able to search for needed information in 
catalogs organized from several different points of view, 
that is, he should have many information systems at 
his disposal rather than a single system. 

There must be compatibility between the Library of 
Congress and other research libraries, particularly with 
respect to the kinds of equipment developed. There is 
some urgency with respect to this compatibility since 
some efforts at automating individual libraries are al- 
ready underway. The effort of establishing compati- 
bility, or at least appropriate interfaces, is probably 
small compared to expected benefits. In regard to the 
"software," that is, indexing, classification, etc., there 
is no need to constrain individual libraries. A spe- 
cialized medical library cannot be expected to organize 



IS 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



its holdings in the same way as the medical collection 
of a large general library. In an automated system, 
it should be possible to provide necessary transforma- 
tions from one system to another. There should be no 
reason for destroying the user's sense of the history or 
peculiar qualities of any collection. Unique indexes 
should not be lost in an overall national indexing sys- 
tem but should be made available to any user of the 
automatic system. 

The projected automated system is designed to per- 



mit an orderly transition to more advanced modes of 
response to the user's needs. As the quality of index- 
ing increases so will die user's resourcefulness in search- 
ing. At the outset, then, machines can hardly be ex- 
pected to give much more than clerical assistance. In 
time their power will come to be applied more widely 
to assist the cataloging, indexing, and assembling of 
information. As machine processes are improved for 
these functions they will also become increasingly 
adaptive to the user's needs. 



SECTION V 



Implementation of a System 



Management of the Transition 

The first step to be taken in the automation pro- 
gram is the establishment within the Library of Con- 
gress of a management group to insure effective 
control, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of 
activities leading to the successful procurement of a 
working system. This group will procure a detailed 
system design that will entail flow charting of essential 
processes and the dete rmin ation of machine program- 
ming requirements, manpower requirements, machine 
and machine-hour requirements, throughput volumes, 
and throughput rates. These design activities should 
result in a set of performance specifications for the 
system as a whole and for system components as neces- 
sary. The development, installation, and testing of 
the working system will be based on these specifications. 

The transition to the new system admits a variety 
of alternatives, whose choice will be conditioned by 
consideration of costs of converting all or part of the 
present catalogs and related files into machine-readable 
form, by factors of availability of requisite funds and 
space, and also by certain development requirements 
that may make parts of the system available at differ- 
ent times. It is envisioned that the new system, or 
parts of it, will be operated in parallel with the old, 
since it would be impossible to make the transition in 
a short period of time. 

Auxiliary Research and Development Needs 

The implementation of a system at a cost that is 
not prohibitive will require that emphasis be placed 
on the following areas of research and development 
as early as possible. These areas essentially require 
engineering development rather than basic technolog- 
ical advances insofar as equipment is concerned.. 

Trtlliox-Bit Memory. Storage in, and access to, 
an automated catalog containing on the order of 10 11 to 
1CP bits is a formidable engineering problem, although 



equipment can be demonstrated in the laboratory 
which apparently indicates a promising direction for 
such a development. There is a requirement for 
further engineering development, but probably no' ma- 
jor basic research or new development programs are 
needed. 

Consoles. Display consoles suitable for functions 
similar to those envisioned here are available now, but 
they are by no means entirely satisfactory. Their cost 
is high for library applications, particularly since per- 
haps thousands of consoles will be needed for the na- 
tional library system. New ideas, not just engineering 
or production changes, are required to overcome 
both cost and performance obstacles in the same 
development. 

Visual display consoles appear to be desirable, but 
whether they are to be of the cathode-ray-tube type 
is not as important as whether, at least, the equivalent 
of a library card (roughly 1,000 characters) can be 
displayed, and changed, on the order of one second. 
Similarly, the display method must allow some form 
of selection by a "marker" from a multiple-choice 
array to keep user keying to a minimum. 

Temporary storage, either at the console or the 
central computer, of at least 100 library card equiva- 
lents should be provided, with the user able to call for 
a sequential display of the stored contents. A key- 
board supplemented with marker and process keys 
would be required. 

The "process" keys would be used to institute quer- 
ies to specific portions of the automated catalog and 
to respond to the next steps suggested by the auto- 
mated system. At least a 120-character or symbol set 
would be desirable, in contrast with the 64 characters 
typically available now. This means that effort will 
have to be placed on new or improved and certainly 
more economical means of character generation. 

There should also be some means, whether at the 
console or central processor, of automatic format con- 
trol and a means of automatic transliteration of words 



19 



■20 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



in digital storage to the Roman alphabet, regardless 
of die source language alphabet. Lastly, economical 
mediods of providing "scratch pad" copies of dis- 
played information to the console user must be sought. 

The foregoing requirements refer to the most com- 
plex: type of consoles. Again it should be emphasized 
that several forms of consoles should be developed, 
depending upon the workload associated with various 
functions required. 

Graphic Output Editing and Composing. Auto- 
mation of the Library of Congress and the National 
Union Catalog bibliographic information system holds 
promise for providing catalog production service on 
a national basis. Machine methods of editing, spelling 
correction, type selection, page formatting, and line 
justification have all been demonstrated. Stress must 
be placed on software techniques for editing and page 
composition. Computer graphic composer equipments 
must be made capable of providing high quality, re- 
producible copy at rates of several hundred characters 
per second with a large repertory of symbols, charac- 
ters, and type sizes. 

User-System Tutorial Interaction. Both con- 
sole and system logic design should stress an "open- 
endedness" about the possibilities of providing tutorial 
interaction between the machine system and the user. 
The near future will bring considerable progress in 
this area. Although there are no revolutionary ideas 
on the horizon, the increased labeling and cross refer- 
encing made possible by mechanical stores should al- 
low for fruitful experimentation. In addition to label- 
ing schemes, optimum search strategies must be 
sought. It is not enough that machines and men 
interact so as to converge upon a mutual understand- 
ing of what the system contains and what the searcher 
seeks. They must converge rapidly and economically, 
without tedious exploration. If these ends can be 
attained, increased indexing will be done by the user 
in the course of use, and not by increasing the indexing 
staff. 

Further study on the possible dialogues between the 
user and the automated catalog is needed. These 
dialogues must be developed in considerable detail, 



flow charted, and then used as the basis for computer 
programming. Several novel techniques proposed 
within the last few years certainly hold sufficient prom- 
ise to justify inclusion in some form in the proposed 
system. The use of citation indexing and the mainte- 
nance of user records represent particularly valuable 
sources for different approaches to information. A 
thorough study should be made of present descriptive 
cataloging rules to determine whether they should be 
modified in order to build maximum flexibility of use 
into the system and permit effective exploitation of the 
capability provided by automation and if so, how? 

Communication Technology. It is unlikely that 
the needs of research libraries could appreciably affect 
developments in the area of communication tech- 
nology. However, the reverse is not true. Central- 
ized research libraries which provide service over 
telephone or telegraph lines are feasible now and are 
certain to become more attractive economically as 
communication technology advances. It is thus likely 
that, even at the outset, data communication facilities 
will be used, but quite sparingly, say, for priority in- 
formation to the more important cooperating libraries. 
The research and development needs are minor, with 
the possible exception of terminal sets. The following 
questions need to be answered prior to large-scale use : 
To what extent is there a need for an extensive com- 
munication net? Will there be user acceptance? At 
what rate will the cost-performance ratio improve? 
Can orderly growth in facilities be achieved? 

Textual Data Conversion Methods. Large-scale 
conversion of textual information into machine-read- 
able form currently appears to cost on the order of one 
cent per word and proceeds at human typing rates. 
The development of flexible, multifont print readers, 
promising character-by-character conversion at several 
hundred characters per second, is being fostered by 
several Government agencies. However, the auto- 
matic conversion of files, such as the National Union 
Catalog, which contain considerable heterogeneous 
symbolism, is not likely in the near future. New 
methods for accomplishing catalog conversion should 
be given emphasis. 



SECTION VI 



Consequences of Automation 



Impact on the National Library System 

Information Flow. It is evident that automation 
of the Library of Congress alone would not be a com- 
plete solution of all national research library problems. 
On the one hand, the Library of Congress does not 
hold everything published. Other libraries (the Na- 
tional Agricultural Library, the National Library of 
Medicine, etc. ) have more complete collections in cer- 
tain topical areas, and indexes to their holdings are 
better organized or are in more descriptive depth for 
the specialist's use. On the other hand, other li- 
braries have come to depend upon the Library of Con- 
gress for assistance in earning out their functions. The 
Library of Congress provides catalogs, lends books, 
distributes cards, and offers varied reference, bibli- 
ographic, and consultant services. 

Thus it is desirable to conceive of a library network, 
a national research library system, incorporating the 
telecommunications necessary to accommodate the flow 
of information to all its branches. Technical develop- 
ments in the last year or so have greatly improved this 
situation, and there is no doubt that intercommunica- 
tion of the information considered here is technically 
feasible and economically reasonable. 

At the present time, all information that is useful 
for the purposes intended to be served by the large 
research libraries of the United States is not stored in 
those libraries. For example, in the field of scientific 
research, technical reports and memoranda often are 
never brought into the library system or are brought 
in too late to be of maximum value. In this respect 
the importance of information centers (such as exist 
for handling technical literature dealing, for example, 
with nuclear science, aerospace, or military research) 
should be recognized and the relation of those centers 
to a national research library system examined. In 
many fields, especially those in which knowledge is 
accumulating most rapidy, the centers are serving a 
user need that libraries have neglected. It is not ap- 
parent, however, that information centers are able to 



do much more than provide an alerting function. If 
this is correct, then the research library system can 
assume the very important tasks of stimulating a fresh 
and useful flow from these newer information sources, 
and it can also provide orderly bibliographic control 
over their products so that they have long-term use. 

Interlibrary Cooperation. Cooperation among 
libraries exists in acquisition, cataloging, particular 
bibliographic projects, library lending, and in many 
other areas. This cooperation is an attempt to make 
maximum use of limited resources. Libraries cooper- 
ate to improve service and in the interest of the 
common good, but the test to justify cooperation is 
usually an economic one. Automation will permit 
a change in outlook. 

The centralized cataloging possibilities implicit in 
an automated library system could be realized only 
through a major reorganization of effort in individual 
libraries. Even acquisition attitudes will have to 
change as information on holdings is more and more 
rapidly exchanged and reproduction simplified. The 
benefits of integrating resources will, in general, be 
more difficult to ignore. The argument that libraries 
cannot effectively use the fruits of cataloging efforts 
performed elsewhere because the results do not meet 
their o-wn local requirements is far less persuasive in 
an automatic system. This is so because of the possi- 
bility of the central cataloging function accommodat- 
ing itself to a variety of user needs and perhaps per- 
forming special editing processes by machine in order 
to deliver a tailormade product to certain libraries 
having such a requirement. 

Numerous advantages will accrue to individual li- 
braries because of their having direct access to the 
National Union Catalog. If their own systems are 
automated, and they have provided for maintaining 
a use-frequency history within their collection, they 
can rely more heavily on the Library of Congress for 
the less frequently used books in order to keep valuable 
space in local libraries allocated to the active part of the 
collection. 

21 



22 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



Impact on the Library User 

The library-user relationship will be significantly 
affected, although all possible consequences cannot be 
foreseen. Clearly, services will become much more 
closely geared to the user's needs. Emphasis will be 
placed on saving the user time in finding and exam- 
ining items of interest to him. The user will be as- 
sured a more comprehensive search and more selective 
service. As the users acquire experience with consoles, 
and as the system and its programs are designed to 
take into account the users' annotations, comments, 
and the use history of a variety of users and a variety 
of works, the system itself will become more responsive. 
In short, what will be accomplished is a much closer 
intellectual interaction between the user and the li- 
brary. Only with this kind of improved interaction 
can the task of communicating recorded knowledge be 
performed with a high degree of effectiveness, so that 
major portions of it are not lost to posterity. 

In a certain sense, the automatic library described 
here can be viewed as both a learning and a teaching 
machine, and in this way would have a great influence 
in enhancing the level of our culture. 

Effect on Availability of Scientific and 
Technical Information 

The nation's problem of scientific and technical in- 
formation has been of growing concern to the defense 
establishment and to the Congress. 1 Most recently the 
President's Science Advisory Committee published a 
report entitled Science, Government, and Information, 
in which the fragmentation of scientific literature by 
speciality is pointed out as demanding some counter- 
acting consolidating force in communications : 

"Though a scientist chooses to narrow his speciality, science 
itself creates an ever-increasing number of potential points 
of contact between the scientist's narrow specialty and the 

1 See, for example, the following reports : 

U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government 
Operation. Documentation, indexing, and retrieval 
of scientific information; a report. Washington, U.S. 
Govt. Print. Off., 1960. 283 p. (86th Cong., 2d 
sess. Senate. Document no. 113) Addendum to 
this report issued as 87th Cong., 1st sess. Senate. 
Document no. 15. 
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Science and As- 
tronautics. Dissemination of scientific information. 
Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1959. 12 p. 
(86th Cong., 1st sess. House. Report no. 1179) 



surrounding fields. As time goes on, successful pursuit of a 
narrow specialty requires effective contact with more and 
more diverse parts of the literature." 

To see what the effect of automation might be, let us 
examine the three levels through which information 
passes in the publication process. 

First, at the generation or first-publication level, in- 
dividual workers or small groups record information 
that they have assembled by creative thought, experi- 
ment, or literature research in a publishable article, 
paper, or communication. Examples of this first- 
publication level are individual journal articles, doc- 
toral dissertations, contract-reporting documents, in- 
dustrial research reports, and so forth. 

Without question, the input of knowledge to the 
generation level must exist as a diverse and spontaneous 
activity, and it is reasonable to expect that the publish- 
ing effort for this level will similarly remain diverse 
and essentially uncoordinated, even though the basic 
mechanisms of such publication may change appre- 
ciably over the years. 

The second level is the book. Here, some major 
topic is comprehensively brought into a cohesively or- 
ganized form summarizing and referring to prior pub- 
lished knowledge. At the book level, information, 
usually 2 to 10 years old, is assembled into a packaged 
form generally having some unifying theme. Periodi- 
cals are increasingly devoting entire issues to the treat- 
ment of all aspects of some topic. Such special issues, 
being equivalent to books but unlike them in their 
multiple authorship, suggest a decline of books as re- 
search sources. A comprehensive, mechanized ref- 
erence and indexing system should allow such special- 
issue documents to be rapidly compiled and narrowly 
focused. One can also foresee the pruning of the now 
too prevalent weaker articles in such collections and, 
eventually, even the pruning of weaker portions of 
articles. The efforts of the Atomic Energy Commis- 
sion, National Institutes of Health, Defense Docu- 
mentation Center (formerly Armed Services Technical 
Information Agency), National Science Foundation, 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and 
others will assist and encourage this aspect of the or- 
ganization and consolidation of knowledge. 

The third level, the preparation of encyclopedias 
and treatises is declining, relative to growth of publi- 
cation. Private enterprise has certainly provided an 
adequate encyclopedic effort when "encyclopedia" is 
considered in its popular sense. However, with a few 



CONSEQUENCES OF AUTOMATION 



23 



exceptions, the job of summarizing knowledge in par- 
ticular subject areas in a systematic way has not been 
i successfully attacked. It is this aspect of the organiza- 
tion of knowledge that could be undertaken under the 
aegis of an automated research library system. The 
consoles and machine-aided search strategies would 
greatly facilitate this work. 

Organization of the Collections 

The Library of Congress and most research libraries 
shelve books in a classified array. The purpose is to 
place books on the same subjects together for stack con- 
trol, delivery, special collections, browsing, etc. This 
mode of shelving has been questioned for a number of 
reasons : It is wasteful of space. Books are not usually 
written on a single subject, yet must be placed in only 
a single location. The number of books on a given 
subject in a large research library defeats browsing. 
It has even been said that browsing is an admission of 
defeat in indexing. Against this background of readi- 
ness for change, automation might be at least as wel- 
come as it is disturbing. 

Certainly, mechanization will impose a change, be- 
cause a large research library, automatically controlled 
to insure the effective location and delivery of its 
holdings, cannot permit open-shelf operation. Brows- 
ing can now be freed of its dependence on classifica- 
tion, from which most of its ills stem, and given a func- 
tional orientation. Special browsing collections can 
be assembled of most frequently used materials or 
materials of established value for research in given 
subject fields. These collections can be seeded with 
analogous or related materials which the librarians 
believe to be of value and can be weeded, updated, 
and organized to make the browsing yield more effec- 
tive and valuable. 

A capability for browsing by use of the console 
should be of even greater significance. The oppor- 
tunity to examine statistical data on the number of 
entries in a biliography, the bibliography itself, and 
then selected pages of particular items which may 
include title pages, tables of contents, and indexes, all 
on a successive rapid response basis and coupled with 
subject access to whatever depth economics permits, 
will provide a far more flexible intellectual interaction 
between the user and the collection than occurs in 
wandering through the stacks as though one were 
shopping in a supermarket. 



Measurement and Feedback of Library 
Effectiveness 

It is a curious and unfortunate fact that libraries of 
today have virtually no way of knowing how well they 
are performing from the point of view of what the 
user ought to be getting from the system. In general, 
there is no way of knowing how much information 
responsive to a subject-oriented request is not found. 
Possibly one of the most important consequences of 
automation will be to provide a capability for main- 
taining use history and for implementing measurements 
on a sampling basis in order to install a good system 
of quality control in the library's operations. With 
such quality control measurements, the possibility for 
improvement-feedback then exists. It is unlikely that 
industry could operate today without an adequate 
system of quality control over its products. Why then 
should not libraries, with perhaps far more important 
products, stand to benefit by such a philosophy? 

Concluding Comment 

Certain trends toward decentralization and speciali- 
zation of collections in both the arts and sciences are 
partial evidence of the difficulties which research li- 
braries are encountering in rendering adequate service. 
The most serious problem is that of characterizing 
documents to facilitate their retrieval and the retrieval 
of their contents within the bounds of a manual system. 
Many of the mechanical limitations could be over- 
come by the application of current or imminent tech- 
nical advances. One can also be optimistic about 
increasing the sophistication of library use and, more 
importantly, the knowledge of how to use them by 
the advent of machines. 

This survey has been very conservative in its appre- 
ciation of technology and science applicable to docu- 
ment and information retrieval, but some of the team 
have more optimism about future developments than 
can be documented by today's equipment and meth- 
odology. The need for automation in libraries will 
create advances in these areas. 

It is a general conclusion of this survey that research 
libraries are lagging behind in the application of exist- 
ing technology to their information handling problems, 
principally because of insufficient funds. Based on its 
investigation, the survey team asserts that existing 



24 



AUTOMATION AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



and imminent technology can bring about major im- 
provements in the sendee of the Library of Congress, 
and that an automated system accomplishing tliis can 
be made operable widiin the next few years. The 
survey team has therefore recommended that immedi- 



ate efforts be made to automate research library func- 
tions. It is also strongly recommended that the 
Library of Congress, because of its central role in the 
Nation's library system, take the lead in the automation 
venture. 



APPENDIX 



715-690—63 3 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 
FOR THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



Prepared under the direction of the survey team 
by Herbert T. Spiro and Allan D. Kotin 
of the 

Planning Research Corporation, Los Angeles, California, 

August 1962 



27 



Foreword 



The following study was made under the direction of the survey team to determine 
the applicability of automation and its costs. It was recognized that even a prelim- 
inary assessment of the money and effort involved in automating portions of the 
Library of Congress would require that the functions of the Library be analyzed and 
a system proposed for handling those functions found amenable to automatic execution. 

Accordingly, an analysis and system design were undertaken, but with the re- 
stricted objective of developing some preliminary tools to aid in constructing the basis 
for a research and development program. The survey team wishes to point out that 
the results, as reported here, should not be interpreted as the outcome of such a research 
and development program, nor should they be interpreted as an endorsement of any 
particular technique or device or as a set of inflexible recommendations. Based on 
the experience of librarians and computer experts, goals were chosen and equipment 
for realizing them suggested as technically and operationally feasible by 1972. 

It is the opinion of the survey team that trends in cost and performance in the 
computer field are now sufficiently well established so that the estimates arrived at will 
retain validity, even though specific details of the system may change extensively. 



S MATERIAL 



RECORD OF 
CIRCULATION 
AND REFERENCE 
USE OF EACH 
ITEM 



rar 



• ' t * i * 



MONOGRAPH 
ACQUISITION 8 
INTERNAL 
PROCESSING 
RECORD . 



SERIAL ACQUISI- 
TION, PROCESSING 
AND HOLDING 
RECORD 



|H |E | 



F |0 



T 

L 



H 



INPUT FROM 
PRIOR CATALOG 
HOLDINGS 



PRIOR-HOLDING 
PHYSICAL ITEMS 



NEW ACQUISITIONS 
FOR HUMAN 
CATALOGING AND 
MANUAL INPUT 
PROCESSING 



PRIOR -HOLD 
ING CON- 
VERSION 
PROCESSING 



I 

I 
\ 
i 

I 

I ml 



- — ->y 



STAFF 

CONSOLE (S) 
(INPUT) 



PHOTO FORM 
PROCESSING 

(INPUT) 




REQUEST INPUT 
ITEM WITHDRAWALS 

ITEM RETURNS 
VISUAL DISPLAY 

SMALL LIST 
HARD COPY 



— — REQUEST INPUT 

VISUAL 
DISPLAY 



PUBLISHED 
MATERIAL 



L.R.S 
CURRENT 
SERIAL 
ARTICLES 



DIGITAL- FORM 
INPUT 

PROCESSING 



REGIONAL 
TRANSMISSION 
AND COMM. 
TERMINALS 



EH 



m 



electrical 
'communication 



UEST INPUT 
■ »> 



PHOTO COPY 
ITEMS 
TO USER 



- — 

• mm a ^> * mm i 

' s s / s 



1 PUBLICATION REQUEST' 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT L REpQRJS 1Q USERS 

ACTIVITY AND MONITOR^ REQUESTS 
O INFORMATION REQUEST 
'l> PHYSICAL ITEM FLOW UNCTION 

PHYSICAL ITEM REQUE1 |NP(JT 
BUSINESS ANDCIRCULi 
REPORTS AND FORMS 5 SEARCH LOGIC 
OF CATALOG 



SECTION I 



Background and Summary 



Background 

In order to assess the economic feasibility of library 
automation, a study of the costs of hardware, soft- 
ware, salaries, and maintenance of a hypothetical auto- 
mated Library of Congress was undertaken. The year 
1972 was selected as the date the system is to be fully 
operational, and projections of Library operations ex- 
pected to be directly affected by automation were 
made. The automated system used as the basis of this 
study is one of several possible configurations (see 
Exhibit 1 ) ; it should be interpreted as a model and 
not as the recommended system. The system does, 
however, account for complete or partial automation 
of all the functions which the survey team considered 
necessary for the basic operation of an automated 
research library. (For a list of these functions, see 
Exhibit 2.) 

The report is thus function-oriented. Although it 
would have been possible to describe existing or pro- 
posed hardware and then specify in what manner this 
equipment could aid in Library operations, this ap- 
proach was considered unrealistic. The organization 
of this report essentially follows the methodology of 
the cost study : present Library activities are analyzed ; 
interrelationships and duplications due to the con- 
straints of manual operation are noted, in addition to 
desirable expansion of services ; a list of Library func- 
tions is presented; these functions are then described 
operationally; workload statistics are developed for the 
various operations comprising a function; data are 
projected for 1972; specifications for hardware to per- 
form the various functions are described ; and, finally, 
costs are developed. In general, the analysis has been 
kept simple so that this functional orientation is always 
apparent. In the various possible systems which fur- 
ther studies might propose, the hardware complexes 
might differ, but these functions would remain essen- 
tially unaltered. 



Exhibit 2. — Functions of an Automated Library System 



Function Code Function 1 

A Recording monograph acquisition and processing. 

B Recording serial acquisition, processing, and 

holdings. 

C Maintaining cataloging authority files. 

D Catalog use. 

E File access for staff. 

F File access for readers. 

G Control of Library holdings. 

H Physical storage of items. 

I Circulation control. 

J Editing for input and output. 

K Publication of bibliographic materials. 

L Production of photocopy. 

M Monitoring use of the collection. 

N Monitoring catalog use and response. 

O Business data processing. 

P Maintaining exchange and gift records. 

Q, Scheduling Library operations. 

R Providing special graphic retrieval. 

S Communication with other institutions. 

T Converting existing files to machine-readable form. 

U Processing materials received in digital form. 

V Controlling intrasystem communication. 



'Terminology for the various functions may differ slightly 
on the Functional Block Diagram (Exhibit 1); the function 
codes are identical. 

Functional analysis necessarily cuts across adminis- 
trative lines. Since automation is not necessarily suit- 
able for all present operations of the Library, each 
division of the Library was studied to determine which 
of its operations could be assigned to the functions 
developed. As a result, certain operations performed 
by the following divisions were identified as the pri- 
mary candidates for extensive automation: 
Processing Department 

Catalog Maintenance Division 

Decimal Classification Office 

Descriptive Cataloging Division 

Exchange and Gift Division 

Order Division 

31 



LIBRARY 

OPERATIONS 

SCHEDULING 



BUSINESS 
DATA 

PROCESSING 



BUSINESS MATERIAL 




L.RS 
CURRENT 
SERIAL 
ARTICLES 



; cm 














^ jSsjpl 






i 

j 




' urn— mm 




PUBLICATION REQUESTS AND EDIT INFORMATION I ^ 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT INFORMATION FLOW 
^ ACTIVITY AND MONITORING REPORT FLOW 
[> INFORMATION REQUEST AND ANSWER FLOW 

■E> PHYSICAL ITEM FLOW NOTE: INTERCOMMUNICATION SWITCHING 

• PHYSICAL ITEM REQUEST AND ANSWER 
BUSINESS AND CIRCULATION 
REPORTS AND FORMS 



ELECTRICAL 
.^VISUAL COMMUNICATION " 
^DISPLAY 
— — — —REQUEST INPUT PHOTOCOPY 
► ITEMS 
TO USER 



SPECIAL REPORTS TO USERS 
USERS REQUESTS 



|x|-REFERS TO AUTOMATED FUNCTION 
SUBSCRIPTS: 

o-OUTPUT i- INPUT 

c -CATALOG s-SEARCH LOGIC 
FILES OF CATALOG 



EXHIBIT 1— FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM OF AN AUTOMATED LIBRARY SYSTEM 



1 



32 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



above figures may be found in Sections II to V and 
Section VII.) 

The cost of converting existing catalogs and files to 
machine-readable form is of special interest. For the 
system described, some records, e.g., acquisition and 
circulation records, would have to be completely con- 
verted before the system could operate, while other 
files, e.g., the card catalog, could be partially con- 
verted. The results of the cost analysis show that the 
cost of converting all relevant Library files (about $3.3 
million) is only about three times as much as the cost 
of converting the minimum required files ($1.2 mil- 
lion) although the number of words converted is esti- 
mated at 700 million in the first case and only 53 
million in the latter, a volume as large. Full con- 
version, therefore, appears advisable. 

The projection of the costs of the present manual 
system provides a yardstock for comparing the costs 
of the automated system. The initial costs of the auto- 
mated system are almost $30 million; the annual opera- 
ting cost of $4.5 million is about $0.5 million under 
expenditures projected for the manual system in 1972. 
It is of interest to contrast these estimates with total 
obligations incurred by the Library of Congress in re- 
cent years. These amount to $19.1 million in fiscal 
year 1959, $20.3 million in 1960, and $22.3 million 
in 1961. Assuming an average increase in obligations 
of $1.5 million per year, the budget for 1972 would be 
$38.8 million. Total obligations incurred between 
1962 and 1972 without an automated system are esti- 
mated at $320.5 million; with an automated system, 
$352.2 million. 



Exhibit 3. — Procurement Costs of an Automated System 







Estimated cost 




Hardware description 










Hardware 


Software 


Total 




$744, 000 


$671,000 


$1,415, 000 




969, 000 


786, 000 


1, 755, 000 




5, 000, 000 


5, 000, 000 


10, 000, 000 




5, 440, 000 


W 


5, 440, 000 


Editing processor 


3, 363, 000 


3, 000, 000 


6, 363, 000 


Photocomposer 


500, 000 


( 2 ) 


500, 000 


Business data and scheduling 


120, 000 


120, 000 


240, 000 


Special reference graphic storage 


339, 000 


25, 000 


364, 000 




208, 000 




208, 000 




( 3 ) 


2, 000, 000 


2, 000, 000 


Total 


16, 683, 000 


11, 602, 000 


28, 285, 000 



1 The cost of programming the set subroutines associated 2 This function will be controlled by the editing processor 

with console operation is included in the purchase cost of and all relevant software costs are attributed to the editing 
console hardware. processor. 

' Not applicable. 



Serial Record Division 

Subject Cataloging Division 

Union Cataloging Division 
Reference Department 

Loan Division 

Serial Division 

Stack and Reader Division 
In addition, partial automation could be anticipated 
for seven other divisions of the Reference Department, 
as well as certain activities of the Law Library and 
the Legislative Reference Service. In Section II, the 
activities of the Library are reviewed, and reasons for 
including or excluding them in the automated Library 
are given. 

Summary of Findings 

The costs of the automated library system include 
initial expenditures for the acquisition of the system 
and recurring expenditures for its operation and main- 
tenance. Exhibit 3 presents a summary, in constant 
dollars, showing a total cost of $28 million for procur- 
ing the system. Of this amount, $16.7 million is for 
the acquisition of hardware and $11.6 million for soft- 
ware. Adding the cost of full conversion of files to 
machine-readable form ($3.3 million) brings the total 
initial cost to approximately $31.6 million. Annual 
operating costs amount to about $770,000, of which 
$452,000 is for salaries of programmers and equip- 
ment operators, and $318,000 for maintenance and 
use of consumable materials. (The derivation of the 



BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY 



33 



In order to view the costs of an automated Library 
of Congress in proper perspective, projections to 1972 
of certain costs of the manual system were undertaken. 
This analysis indicated that, after the initial cost of 
procuring the system, the following comparisons of 
operations show that the salary costs are actually 
slightly lower in the automated system. 



Service group 


Projected salary costs 
for 1972 


Manual 

system 


Automated 
system 


Cataloging and catalog maintenance . 
Acquisition and internal processing. . 
Circulation, retrieval, and storage . . . 


$2, 375, 000 
1, 297, 400 
1, 313, 310 


$2, 163, 400 
1, 013, 100 
992, 400 


Total 


4, 985, 710 


4, 168, 900 





In the long run the costs of Library operations are 
dependent on the volume of activities. For this rea- 
son, particular emphasis was placed throughout this 
study on the selection, analysis, and projection of key 
statistics. The above costs are thus derived from an 
analysis of the Library workload for 1972. Three of 
the key estimates for developing hardware specifica- 
tions are the following : 

Workload for 1972 

New titles cataloged 120, 000 

Volumes retrieved from the stacks 1, 100, 000 

Items recommended for addition to the collection- 210, 000 

The data on which these and similar projections were 
based are presented in Section IV of this report. 

The analysis of functions to be performed by the sys- 
tem and a projection of the volume of operations pro- 
vided a basis for developing requirements for nine 
basic hardware groups. At the core of the system are 
three large digital storage files : the automated catalog 
and two smaller files for recording all processing and 
circulation operations. These files have the following 
characteristics : 





Capacity 
(bits) 


Expected 
frequency 
of access 
(use per 
minute) 




9 x 108 


22 


Central catalog group 


5 x 10 10 


170 


Circulation and retrieval eroup 


1 x 10» 


39 



715-690 — 64 4 



The size of the central catalog in the above table is its 
initial size (assuming full conversion) in 1972; no 
provision is made for additional indexes or for future 
growth. Obviously file capacity on the order of 10 11 
to 10 12 bits is required and, as shown in Exhibit 3, 
$10 million has been allocated for the hardware and 
software for this catalog. 

In addition to these three files, six additional hard- 
ware complexes are defined and costed in this survey. 
Closely related to the automated catalog is a large 
computer system, called the editing processor, whose 
function is to edit, arrange, and transfer all inputs to 
the automated catalog. In addition, it will be de- 
signed to generate automatically demand bibliogra- 
phies, special lists, and even complete catalogs in digital 
form. Another hardware unit, the photocomposer, 
converts this digital output to high quality masters 
which can then be used for the actual publication of 
bibliographies, lists, and catalogs for human con- 
sumption. 

The essential link between readers, staff members, 
and these automated storage files would be provided by 
means of a console. More than 200 consoles, located 
throughout the Library, provide instant access to any 
storage file through the console keyboard and a display 
print facility. Other consoles may be distributed 
throughout the country and linked ultimately to the 
automated catalog by means of a regional communi- 
cations network. 

Further details on the above hardware groups and 
the groups not discussed here may be found in Sec- 
tion V. The hardware discussed in this section is 
either "on the shelf" or within the state-of-the-art in 
advanced developmental phases. 

Conclusion 

This study has aimed at developing the best available 
data to assess the economic feasibility of automating 
certain Library processes. Most of the justification 
has been based on a comparison of costs between the 
manual system and the automated system; no attempt 
has been made, however, to determine what it would 
cost to provide by manual methods all the services 
offered by the automated system. In other words, 
even if the costs were the same, the benefits are demon- 
strably greater in the automated system, since it would 
provide a wide variety of new services and a greater 
refinement of existing services. In most cases these 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



services can be considered as cost-free byproducts of 
automation. Even those services which require some 
incremental salary expenditures, however, are practical 
only by virtue of the economies of automation. 

The nature of the automated catalog makes possible 
a number of benefits not presently available. The 
provisions for searching the catalog by date, language, 
and other criteria would greatly enhance most types 
of reference use as well as the production of bibliogra- 
phies. The rapid and inexpensive production of bibli- 
ographies and lists for special subjects, authors, pub- 
lishers, etc. would greatly enrich the service provided 
to research workers. The production of such bibli- 
ographies at the present time requires a lengthy and 
costly effort, and the Library is unable to undertake 
this work in response to the needs of individual 
scholars. 

One of the greatest services of the automated system 
is the aid which could be given to libraries throughout 
the country in organizing and cataloging their collec- 
tions. The automated catalog could incorporate the 
National Union Catalog and could be indexed by the 
location of individual titles in cooperating libraries. 
The full impact of the significance of this service can- 
not readily be measured at this point, but, as the 
pressures on educational institutions increase, coopera- 
tion between research libraries is increasingly im- 
portant. As the library community continues to stand- 
ardize cataloging rules, the indexing provisions of the 
automated catalog would effectively make it a truly 
national catalog providing integrated files of virtually 
all published materials held by research libraries. Of 
perhaps greater significance is the possible use of this 
catalog for automatically generating catalogs and ac- 
cessions lists in either printed or digital form for co- 
operating libraries. The production of these publi- 
cations would require relatively simple programming 
of the editing processor and would be well within the 
capabilities of the equipment required simply to meet 
the internal needs of the Library of Congress. 

The digital storage and automated control of all 
processing records would undoubtedly produce sub- 
stantial savings in time and effort by virtue of the ease 
with which claims for missing serial issues or other 
items could be generated. Full integration of ex- 
change and gift activities with other acquisition and 
processing records would permit more efficient use of 
present exchange sources for the benefit of the Library 



of Congress and for the enrichment of the numerous 
libraries throughout the world with which the Library 
maintains exchange programs. 

An additional benefit, which would be difficult to 
measure in terms of cost, is the virtual guarantee of 
file integrity that digital storage permits. The unit 
record would no longer be a catalog card, which can. 
be removed, misfiled, or tampered with; instead, it 
would be a digital record filed automatically and there- 
fore inviolate. With such a file, much of the double 
checking and special searching required in both ref- 
erence and cataloging operations would be eliminated. 

These benefits are of little use, however, unless one 
can readily obtain the materials selected after consul- 
tation of these automated files. The present system 
maintains records for materials circulated outside the 
Library, but, for the most part, no records are main- 
tained of items used by readers within the Library. 
The replacement of the present call slip with auto- 
matically typed and magnetically readable labels for 
items requested from the stacks would permit greater 
control over the collection and the precise determina- 
tion of items not in their regular shelf locations. The 
use records thus generated would also permit reloca- 
tion of materials to maximize retrieval time and 
minimize storage space. 

The automated system discussed in this report is 
described in a rough and preliminary manner. De- 
velopment of more detailed specifications for the 
system would inevitably bring to light other major 
benefits to the Library, the Library user, and to other 
libraries, the marginal costs of which would be negli- 
gible. Only a complete and detailed system design 
can be expected to describe all, or even most, of the 
possible combinations and operations of the proposed 
system. For this reason this study has largely de- 
scribed a system which can perform the operations now 
performed manually and at an economic advantage; 
it must be kept in mind, however, that in addition to 
matching the manual system the automated system 
would provide additional cost-free benefits, of which 
the above are only the most obvious and readily 
identifiable. 

Each of the sections which follow deals with a par- 
ticular subject and is organized as an independent 
paper. Readers interested in particular areas can 
concentrate on the relevant sections without explor- 
ing peripheral issues. 



SECTION II 



Identification of Major Library Activities 



Summary 

This section concentrates on identifying those activi- 
ties which are directly related to the central bibli- 
ographic record and which therefore would be altered 
by automation. The following divisions of the Proc- 
essing Department will be directly affected by automa- 
tion : the Decimal Classification Office and the Catalog 
Maintenance, Descriptive Cataloging, Exchange and 
Gift, Order, Serial Record, Subject Cataloging, and 
Union Cataloging Divisions. Within the Reference 
Department operations of the Loan, Serial, and Stack 
and Reader Divisions will be altered by the installation 
of an automated system. Other divisions in the Li- 
brary will be affected to the extent that their opera- 
tions are changed by the overall improvement of 
library services, such as increased speed of access to 
automated bibliographic records and catalogs, in- 
creased speed of processing incoming materials, and 
the production of bibliographies and lists through 
automated equipment. 

Activities Considered for Cost Analysis 

The Library of Congress performs many functions 
which make it in many respects a unique institution. 
Among these functions are the regulatory duties of the 
Copyright Office and cultural activities — poetry read- 
ings, lectures, concerts, and exhibits— which, by their 
very nature, are not within the scope of this study. 
A general rule used to include or exclude a library 
activity was the extent to which it was bibliographic 
or nonbibliographic. In the following pages a more 
precise enumeration of criteria for inclusion will be 
given, along with detailed analyses of operations 
amendable to automation. 

A facsimile of the most recent Library organization 
chart is presented in Exhibit 4. The Office of the 
Librarian and the five related offices at the top of the 



chart, as well as the Administrative Department, and 
the Copyright Office, were eliminated from considera- 
tion. This does not imply that some operations within 
these units could not benefit from automation but 
rather that their underlying function is administrative 
or regulatory rather than bibliographical. 

The Law Library and the Legislative Reference 
Service were largely excluded, except for the provision 
of equipment to permit their staff members to com- 
municate with and interrogate all mechanized Library 
files. The former was excluded because its collection, 
kept physically separate from the general Library, is 
focused largely on units of information peculiar to 
legal source material, such as legal indexes, looseleaf 
services, and records of legislative proceedings, and 
hence not too easily incorporated with the biblio- 
graphic units contemplated for the general automated 
Library. The Legislative Reference Service, which 
serves primarily as a research staff for the benefit of 
Members of Congress, provides bibliographic and re- 
search service of a highly specialized, individualistic, 
and somewhat unpredictable nature. Both Law Li- 
brary and LRS staff members will benefit from auto- 
mation when their research activities require use of 
the central catalog and associated files and from the 
expected increase in speed of processing incoming 
materials. In addition, the special reference files de- 
veloped and maintained by the Library Services Divi- 
sion of LRS are considered to be suitable for automa- 
tion by special fast-access graphic storage, and this 
aspect of LRS operations will be given further 
attention. 

The Processing Department and the Reference De- 
partment, each of which includes several divisions, 
are most directly affected by automation although, 
again, certain divisions and activities are either ex- 
cluded entirely or treated briefly. The remainder of 
this section is largely concerned with a discussion of 
operations in these departments which are suitable for 
automation. (See Exhibit 5.) 

35 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 





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IDENTIFICATION OF MAJOR LIBRARY ACTIVITIES 



37 



Exhibit 5. — Summary of Departments With Respect to Cost Analysis 

Department Treatment in this report 

Office of the Librarian of Congress: Excluded from analysis except for automation of Library operational 

Office of the Deputy Librarian. monitoring functions (indirect). 

Office of the Assistant Librarian. 

Personnel Office. 

Chief Internal Auditor. 

Information Systems Specialist. 

Administrative Department Excluded from analysis. 

Copyright Office Excluded from analysis. 

Law Library Included in analysis of procurement costs of catalog access equipment. 

Legislative Reference Service Included in analysis of procurement costs of catalog access equipment 

and special reference graphic storage equipment. 

Processing Department Included in the analyses of procurement costs and salary costs. 1 

Reference Department Included in the analyses of procurement costs and salary costs. 2 

1 Certain divisions in this department are excluded (see 2 Certain divisions in this department are excluded (see 

Exhibit 6). Exhibit 7). 



The Processing Department 

Exhibit 6 indicates the extent to which this report 
treats the Processing Department. Excluded activities 
include administrative functions; special projects listed 
under the Office of the Director (these would be 
affected by automation, but are special, noncontinu- 
ing endeavors) ; the Binding Division; and the Card 
Division. 

The primary activity of the Binding Division is the 
monitoring and preparation of materials forwarded 
for binding. Much of this operation is manual but 
not subject to automation; for example, issue-by-issue 
collation of serials, checking volumes for correct place- 
ment of title pages and indexes, etc. The recordkeep- 
ing functions associated with binding are partially in- 
cluded in the automation of serial and monograph 
processing. 

The exclusion of the Card Division from the cost 
analysis of a proposed automated Library requires 
explanation, particularly since many division opera- 
tions appear to be well suited to mechanization. As 
described in a "Selective Outline of Functions in the 
Library of Congress," prepared by the Office of the 
Information Systems Specialist, division responsibil- 
ities include the following: 

1. Estimates number of cards to be printed and as- 
signs card numbers. 

2. Maintains physical stock of printed cards. 

3. Maintains catalog of printed cards filed by main 
entry. 



4. Receives orders for printed cards by card number, 
author, subject, etc., and conducts required search- 
ing operation to fill orders. 

5. Fills standing orders for cards by subject, for proof- 
sheets (in complete or partial sets), and for series 
or parts of series. 

6. Distributes certain bibliographies and catalogs pre- 
pared in the Library. 

7. Provides proper business operation for billing and 
accounting. 

As may be seen from this list, many of the opera- 
tions carried on by the Card Division are specifically 
oriented to provide catalog cards and proofsheets to 
other libraries. In this sense, the Card Division may 
be considered as a business operating within the Li- 

Exhibit 6. — Divisions op the Processing Department 



Division 



Office of the Director 

Cyrillic Bibliographic Project. 

Union List of Serials Project . 

Binding Division 

Card Division 

Catalog Maintenance Division . . . 
Decimal Classification Office. . . . 
Descriptive Cataloging Division . . 

Exchange and Gift Division 

Order Division 

Serial Record Division 

Subject Cataloging Division 

Union Cataloging Division 



Costs of automa- 
tion estimated 



Yes 



X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 



No 



X 
X 
X 
X 
X 



3S 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



brary. The importance of these business operations 
are illustrated by the fact that in fiscal 1961 about 
35.7 million catalog cards were sold for a dollar 
volume of $2,040,000. 1 

There are two major reasons for the exclusion of 
the Card Division from this analysis. It is anticipated 
diat one of the consequences of automation will be the 
eventual elimination of the necessity for card catalogs 
in the Library of Congress. Since card catalogs would 
be replaced by automated electronic catalogs, the pro- 
duction of printed catalog cards would either be auto- 
mated as a part of the automated publication function 
or would possibly become a purely internal activity of 
the Card Division. In either case, there would cease 
to be any integral connection between the Library's 
internal operations and the business operations of the 
Card Division, except that the Library catalogers 
would continue to prepare data for card copy. 

The second reason for exclusion of the Card Divi- 
sion relates to the type of hardware needed for auto- 
mating its operations. Although the automation of 
the general Library catalogs would permit Card Divi- 
sion searchers to identify more rapidly the cards or- 
dered, there would still be the problem of reproducing 
these cards in large numbers. The extent to which 
the automated publication function of the Library 
could handle the constant reprinting of cards, in addi- 
tion to the other publication loads, cannot be deter- 
mined without a more precise systems analysis of Card 
Division operations and further specification of the 
automated publication equipment. Even if the auto- 
mated searching and printing of cards ordered were 
possible with equipment provided for other functions 
of the Library, there would still remain the major 
problem of matching individual printed cards with 
specific orders. The huge task of assembling orders 
for shipment to their buyers probably could be solved 
at least in part by automation. The specific nature 
of the system required for the Card Division would re- 
quire specialized study of its operations and would al- 
most inevitably involve electronic equipment for use 
only within this division and not of particular benefit 
to other operations of the Library. 

1 Data available since the preparation of this report indicate 
that, in fiscal 1962, 42.4 million cards were sold for $2,150,- 
400. (The dollar volume of sales is not directly proportional 
to the number of cards sold, since the price of cards range 
from 1 to 13 cents; total sales are thus dependent on two 
variables, the number of cards sold and the type of cards 
sold.) 



Unlike most divisions in the Library, the Card Divi- 
sion is self-supporting. The revenues from the sales of 
cards are returned to the United States Treasury and 
usually balance or surpass the expenses of the division. 
It is therefore reasonable to expect that automation 
of Card Division operations will be undertaken only 
if the costs incurred can be met by sales revenue. 
The primary purpose of this report is to estimate the 
procurement and operating costs of an automated sys- 
tem for the bibliographic operations and not for 
those business operations which are self-sustaining. 
In view of these considerations, further analysis 'of the 
Card Division was not deemed pertinent. 

The Reference Department 

The extent to which this report considers the various 
divisions of the Reference Department is illustrated 
by Exhibit 7. The Manuscript Division, Map Divi- 
sion, Music Division, and Prints and Photographs Divi- 
sion were considered Outside the scope of this report 
because their collections involve materials which differ 
markedly from the central library collection. The 
problems involved in maintaining collections of manu- 
scripts, maps, photograph records, music scores, prints, 
and photographs are somewhat different from those 
characterizing the organization of monographic and 
serial literature. Many of the automated functions 
do not apply to these types of collections and could not 
readily be adapted without extensive modification. 

The Orientalia Division presents problems because 
of the nature and diversity of the alphabets with which 
it deals. This, in conjunction with the relatively small 
collections involved, does not make it a candidate for 
immediate automation. There is, of course, the possi- 
bility that rapid technological progress will lower the 
cost of processing non-Roman alphabets to the point 
where such automation is practical even for limited 
collections, but the necessary technology is not suffi- 
ciently denned at this time to permit definitive assess- 
ment of its application. 

The Division for the Blind was excluded because of 
the special nature of the bibliographic materials with 
which it deals, but it does deserve further careful 
consideration in the systems design studies. The Rare 
Book Division, General Reference and Bibliography 
Division, and Science and Technology Division are 
considered only to the extent that they require elec- 
tronic equipment for access to the catalogs, since many 
of their operations will continue essentially unchanged 



IDENTIFICATION OF MAJOR LIBRARY ACTIVITIES 



39 



by automation. Although these divisions will be 
significantly affected by the greater refinement and 
ease of access resulting from automated cataloging, 
catalog access comprises only a small part of their 
total effort, and whatever savings are effected would 
probably be reflected more in increased and better 
service rather than in replacement of personnel. 

Similar considerations apply to the Defense Re- 
search Division and the Aerospace Information Divi- 
sion. These divisions, although administered by the 
Library, are operations funded by the Department of 
Defense for the purpose of organizing and disseminat- 
ing information. Certain procurement costs are in- 
cluded; salaries, however, are excluded. The Slavic 
and Central European Division and the Hispanic 
Foundation, again, are considered only with respect to 
the cost of supplying consoles for access to the auto- 
mated catalogs and files. 

The Loan Division, Stack and Reader Division, and 
Serial Division are all dealt with comprehensively in 
this report. These divisions are responsible for the 
circulation of material within or outside the confines 
of the Library. All will be directly affected by auto- 
mated functions concerned with controlling item loca- 
tion and circulation. 

Despite the elimination of a number of divisions 
from detailed consideration in this report, the sur- 



vey team is confident that an aggressively pursued 
automation program at the Library of Congress, within 
the scope considered and proposed, will ultimately lead 
to the subsuming of many of these "excluded" func- 
tions within the automated structure. Many of these 
functions should be given careful consideration during 
the recommended systems design study. 

Exhibit 7. — Divisions of the Reference Department 



Division 



Office of the Director 

Aerospace Information Division , 

Defense Research Division , 

Division for the Blind 

General Reference and Bibliography 

Division 

Hispanic Foundation 

Loan Division 

Manuscript Division 

Map Divison 

Music Division 

Orientalia Division 

Prints and Photographs Division , 

Rare Book Division , 

Science and Technology Division 

Serial Division , 

Slavic and Central European Division 
Stack and Reader Division 



Costs of automa- 
tion estimated 



Yes 



X 
X 



X 
X 
X 



X 
X 
X 
X 
X 



Xo 



X 

x' 



X 
X 
X 
X 
X 



SECTION III 

Sketch of Functions To Be Performed by an 

Automated System 



Summary 

In this section the functions which the automated 
system should perform as a minimum are defined 
operationally without respect to the present adminis- 
trative structure of the Library. In describing func- 
tions, every effort was made to make them consistent 
with each other and with the general system objectives. 
Exhibit 1, a functional block diagram of the proposed 
automated system, illustrates the interrelationships be- 
tween these various functions. 

Functions are grouped, for discussion, under the fol- 
lowing general headings: acquisition and recording, 
cataloging, staff and reader file access, circulation and 
control, editing, administrative, and miscellaneous. 
In succeeding sections each function is described in 
greater detail with respect to magnitude of operations 
involved, hardware required, and probable cost in the 
automated system. Value judgments with respect to 
time phasing of these functions in the automated sys- 
tem have been indicated only in a very general way; 
essentially all functions are treated as deserving equal 
attention. 

Acquisition and Recording Functions 

Function A. Recording Monograph Acquisition 
and Processing. 

Service provided: Allows rapid identification of 
monographs that are either desired for the collections, 
on order, or likely to be acquired, and their status. 
Records status of all monographs throughout process- 
ing sequence, until final recording in the automated 
catalog. 

The bibliographic description of monographic items 
would enter the acquisition and processing file at an 
earlier stage than under the manual system, since 
they would be listed when requested by a recommend- 
40 



ing officer in any of the various divisions. When actu- 
ally placed on order or requested on exchange, mono- 
graphs would receive an order number which would 
be posted in the file against the author and title en- 
tries. This function would embrace both the present 
order (purchase) and exchange records, but not the 
related financial operations which would be included 
in Function O. This file would also provide an index 
to all standing orders or exchanges. 

As a monographic item proceeds through the stages 
of being recommended, ordered, received, and cata- 
loged, each change in its status would be recorded and 
dated in this file. Thus the file also subsumes the pres- 
ent operations of the Process Information File. When 
the entire processing cycle is completed for a particular 
item, the entry is purged from the processing file and 
entered in the automated catalog. 

As a part of this function, records would be kept for 
each item of the time spent in each stage of processing. 
There would be an automatic or semiautomatic pro- 
gram for flagging items overdue in either acquisition 
or internal processing; thus, a greatly improved con- 
trol over this phase of Library operations would be 
possible. 

Function B. Recording Serial Acquisition, Process- 
ing, and Holdings. 

Service provided: Records serials on order or recom- 
mended for order and their status, as well as new serial 
titles being processed. Records Library holdings of 
all serial issues, binding records, and maintains a file 
of missing issues. 

This function is somewhat parallel to Function A, 
the major difference being that the monograph file is 
constantly purged and therefore relatively constant in 
size, while the serial file will be continually growing. 

Once a serial is ordered, the acquisition process is 
essentially continuous, and for that reason the file 
would not be purged. 



SKETCH OF FUNCTIONS TO BE PERFORMED 



41 



One of the major uses of this file would be for post- 
ing receipt of each serial issue. An important require- 
ment would be an automatic or semiautomatic pro- 
gram to note serials that have not been received, are 
due for binding, or are overdue from the binder}'. 
Comprehensive lists of claims or overdue notices could 
be prepared automatically at regular intervals, again 
providing a control over the receipt and subsequent 
control of materials not possible with the manual sys- 
tem. 

As a part of the posting operation, a routing slip 
would automatically be generated for each serial issue, 
indicating where it is to be sent. This is of particular 
importance only insofar as the present practice of rout- 
ing current serial issues to various divisions and sec- 
tions in the Library is maintained in the future. 

Cataloging Functions 

Function C. Mamtaining Catalog Authority Files. 

Service provided: This file provides data on author 
entries, subject headings, and cataloging rules as estab- 
lished for use in the Library's files and catalogs. For 
each entry or heading there is an indication of the 
size of the file in the automated catalog. This file is 
basic to cataloging operations but should also be avail- 
able to reference librarians, other staff members, and 
users who need assistance in determining proper en- 
tries for searching. 

There is in the present system an authority file which 
is incorporated in the Official Catalog. In this file 
the following kinds of information may be found : 

1. Authority cards shoeing the established forms of 
entries, the manner in which the authority was es- 
tablished (sources used for spelling and biographical 
data) , and all necessary cross references. 

2. Subject heading cards showing proper Library of 
Congress format and usage, cross references to pre- 
ferred headings and references to related subject 
headings. 

This automated catalog would incorporate the en- 
tire authority file for automated lookup to assist both 
catalogers and library users. 1 It should be noted that 
the authority file must be complete from the very be- 
ginning of the system, no matter what the size of the 

1 Since it is not clear to what extent the automated files 
would include the National Union Catalog, the authority file 
described in this section is based on the Library of Congress 
collection. No attempt has been made to estimate the size 
of an authority file for the entire National Union Catalog. 



collection in the automated catalog may be. A par- 
tially complete authority file is of virtually no value in 
cataloging and of limited value in assisting library 
users. 

As mentioned above, the file would automatically 
record each new assignment of a subject heading or 
author entry and would provide a current total of each 
file in the catalog. The usefulness of these counts ap- 
plies in the cataloging and retrieval process and in 
other library operations as well. 

The basic central file would contain, in machine- 
readable form, data equivalent to that on present LC 
cards. The file would be ordered and addressed by 
an item number, i.e. accession number or sequential 
conversion number. The item number might contain 
the designation of the year of publication or some other 
combination determined to be useful in searching and 
sorting. Contents of this portion of the automated 
system are essentially equivalent to the merged Official 
and Main Catalog of the Library (minus authority 
cards subsumed in the files related to Function C). 
In addition, it would have provision for incorporation 
of titles in the National Union Catalog not held by the 
Library, although these titles might possibly be sep- 
arated in the files. This basic catalog would not re- 
quire periodical merging if it were sequentially ordered. 

The search logic portion of the automated catalog 
would govern search mode sequences and would pro- 
vide for selection of proper sections of the files for 
searching. It is anticipated that use of the automated 
search logic would permit searches of a complexity not 
possible in the manual system. For example, the basic 
entry would contain digital field symbol codes which 
would identify all the various kinds of data contained 
on an LC card. This should permit limited searching 
by modes such as date and place of publication, lan- 
guage, number of pages, etc. Should any of these 
"new" search modes be widely used, the catalog could 
be programmed through Function J to generate addi- 
tional indexes. 

The inclusion of the NUC symbols for cooperating 
libraries allows the possibility of retrieving titles by 
location or indicating locations of a particular title. 
This means that it would be possible to generate a 
catalog of all the titles listed for a particular location, 
i.e. library, and to produce up-to-date accessions lists 
for cooperating libraries at their request. 

The unique feature of this file is the inclusion of 
cataloging rules and guides to aid the cataloger in 
preparation of material for the automated catalog. 



42 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



For example, it will probably be necessary in the auto- 
mated catalog to code the information inputs with 
special symbols, e.g., for author, editor, pagination, edi- 
tion, and other data fields. This file would provide a 
list of these symbols and their referents, as well as a 
complete list of the rules for cataloging. These rules 
would be displayed to catalogers in the form of a tu- 
torial display of the proper format and symbols to aid 
in preparing final entries. This particular subfunction 
would be available to Library staff only and would be 
closely tied to the input editing Function J. 
Function D. Catalog Use. 

Service provided: Permits automated search of Li- 
brary of Congress catalogs and the National Union 
Catalog (NUC) . For certain classes of materials, sup- 
plies information about location in other libraries. 

This function involves methods for organizing the 
stored information equivalent to the present Library 
and NUC files and provides search strategies for select- 
ing pertinent items from the entire store. 

The structure of the catalog developed for costing 
purposes involves a central file, in digital form, con- 
taining complete bibliographical data for each title 
and ordered by accession number or some scheme that 
is basically sequential. This central file may be ap- 
proached by at least six indexes ordered by author, 
title, subject, LC card number, NUC location symbol, 
and item number with NUC location symbols. Ca- 
pacity would be provided for the addition of new in- 
dexes, such as citations, references, or key title words. 
These new search modes would be added as the neces- 
sary information becomes available and as the need for 
them becomes explicit. The indexes would be ordered 
alphabetically or numerically and would require pe- 
riodical merging. 

Staff and Reader File Access 

Function E. File Access for Staff (via input/output 
consoles) . 

Service provided: Provides staff members whose 
work involves entering, changing, or removing file en- 
tries a method for gaining access to digital catalogs 
and files. 

This console would be used when staff members 
needed to enter new information into the system or to 
query other library files. ( It should be noted that staff 
members whose duties require access only would prob- 
ably use the less expensive read-only files provided for 



readers.) Although this console permits input and 
output, the input functions would be carefully re- 
stricted to certain specified personnel who would have 
"keys" to the input portion of the console in order to 
maintain file integrity. Certain direct input modes 
would allow for limited correction without requiring 
the intermediate step of input editing by the editing 
function. The latter would be required for all major 
entries, e.g. new titles or subject headings added to 
the catalog. The limited correction would include 
such operations as indicating the receipt of material 
from binding, the posting of a serial issue, etc. Thus 
the workload for the editing and conversion processes 
would be minimized by providing this direct input for 
limited corrections, where only an identifying code 
need be changed and no additional "text" is involved. 

The console would provide a limited tear-off hard 
copy for the use of staff members. It would not, how- 
ever, provide the more extensive facilities required for 
printing bibliographies and other extended listings. 

A variety of staff consoles would undoubtedly be 
needed to handle the diversity of input requirements. 
The extent to which consoles differ according to these 
requirements cannot be determined without further 
study. 

Function F. File Access for Readers (via output 
console) . 2 

Service provided: Permits read-only access to the 
automated catalogs and files; provides a visual display 
of catalog entries, and a limited "tear-off" hard-copy 
production of catalog entries. 

This output console would be available to readers 
and staff members use where there is no need for input 
to the files. In the early stages of the system, all 
consoles would probably be operated by specially 
trained staff members for library users, although with 
continued experience the console should become suf- 
ficiently self-explanatory to permit its use directly by 
library users. One of the console design requirements 
is that the console be as simple in operation as possi- 
ble to minimize training required by staff and readers 
for its efficient use. 

Provision should be made to permit a hard-copy 
facility (perhaps as much as 50 or 100 bibliographic 
items) to be printed out at the console. The reader 
console would not provide extensive printouts for bib- 
liographies or searches; these would be channeled 
through Function J. 

2 Identified as reader console in the block diagram. 



SKETCH OF FUNCTIONS TO BE PERFORMED 



43 



Circulation and Control Functions 

Function G. Control of Library' Holdings. 

Service provided: Provides a complete and current 
record of the location of all items in the automated 
catalog. All changes in shelf location and the status 
of all books temporarily not-on-shelf are recorded. 

The two essential elements of this function are a 
location director)' and a not-on-shelf (NOS) record. 
Under the present system, a location directory is not 
required for the bulk of the collection, since the classi- 
fication number of the item indicates its relative loca- 
tion in the stacks. As subject-related classification is 
abandoned as a location identifier, the location direc- 
tory will relate the unique identification number of 
each item to its location in the stacks. A more flexible 
storage pattern will result, since it would no longer 
be necessary for the relative location of a specific book 
to be tied to the catalog record. If considerations of 
frequency of use indicate that a book should be relo- 
cated more or less conveniently in the stacks, this may 
be effected simply by changing the location number 
assigned to the book's identification number in the 
location directory. In addition, this directory will 
record all books placed in special reference collections 
and reading rooms. 

The NOS file is essential in providing control over 
all items temporarily in use and not in their regular 
shelf locations. One of the advantages of the auto- 
mated system is the rapid and thorough search of 
bibliographic entries; this must be matched by a 
thorough control over the physical items, or much of 
the advantage of better access is lost. Therefore this 
file must record the status of all items in use, including 
the following major categories: 

1. Items on loan outside the Library. 3 

2. Items checked out for reader use in the Library. 

3. Items in use by the Library staff. 

4. Items outside the Library for binding or other phys- 
ical processing. 

5. Items awaiting reshelving or in transit within the 
Library. 

This function is not directly associated with the 
automated catalog, since physical retrieval is not al- 

3 The Library of Congress lends material outside the Library 
only to Members of Congress and their staffs, certain Govern- 
ment officials, Government agency libraries, LC staff mem- 
bers, and other libraries. The term borrowers used herein 
refers to the above categories and not to readers who are 
allowed to use material in the buildings only. 



ways requested when the catalog is consulted. When 
a specific item is requested, a retrieval signal would be 
generated, screened in the NOS file, and checked in 
the location directory. If the relevant item number 
is determined to be on shelf (i.e. no entry is posted in 
the NOS file), the location directory will cue the 
appropriate stack location so that the stack attendant 
may retrieve the item from the shelf. 

Retrieval requests, with a borrower identification 
number forwarded to the appropriate stack location 
along with the request, would be typed automatically 
in magnetically readable ink and characters on small 
detachable labels or by some similar low-cost easily 
applied device. These labels would be affixed to a 
predetermined position on the book. Thereafter any 
change in the location or circulation status of the book 
while off-the-shelf would be recorded by placing the 
book label under a magnetic reading device capable of 
automatically transmitting the number of the book and 
the status change to the NOS file. 

These magnetic reading devices would be placed at 
all points where a change in the status of books may 
occur, including the various charge desks, the Loan 
Division, the points at which books are returned for 
shelving, and various decks in the stacks (where the 
return of the book to the shelves is recorded and the 
label removed). In all but one case the location of 
the reading device would dictate a unique status code 
which would be automatically transmitted with the 
item identification number. In the case of the de- 
vices used at the charge desk, however, provision would 
be made for indicating on a dial or key basis some 
further codes to indicate whether the item is used by 
staff or readers, and if by the staff which department 
or division they are in. 

Function H. Physical Storage of Items. 

Service provided: Storage of library materials for 
efficient and rapid retrieval. Ultimately may involve 
microstorage techniques as well as automated stack 
retrieval. 

The adoption of an automated system will require 
that the Library stacks be closed in order to insure the 
accuracy of the various recording functions. Closing 
the stacks will result in a reduced need for subject- 
related classification as a medium for stack arrange- 
ment, since the stacks will no longer serve as a single 
large browsing collection. As a result, new methods 
of efficient storage based on demand frequency or other 
criteria will become feasible. 

Over a period of time, the records of use generated 
through function M, Monitoring Use of the Collection. 



44 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



should develop guidelines by which convenience of lo- 
cation can be made a function of frequency of use. 
Flexibility in storage would be further facilitated by the 
location directory in which storage locations can be 
successively assigned as needs and policies change. 

At this time it does not appear feasible for the Li- 
brary to consider an extensive revision of the physical 
storage as a condition for the installation of an auto- 
mated system. It is expected, however, that, in time, 
the greater knowledge of use patterns made possible by 
the automated equipment would allow the Library to 
reorganize the physical collection to take maximum ad- 
vantage of space and to provide maximum convenience 
to staff and readers. No analysis of the cost of various 
possible automated shelving and storage devices is 
given in this report; however, Function H was in- 
cluded because it is an area where experimentation 
and ingenuity might produce improvements in line 
with the automation of other Library services. 

Function I. Circulation Control. 

Service provided: Control for data input on cir- 
culation and service charging. 

This function would largely be an extension and 
elaboration of the partially automated charging and 
recall process now used by the Library's Loan Division. 
Present procedures involve keypunching charges and 
machine printout of recall lists for items lent to Gov- 
ernment agencies only. This procedure would be 
made more automatic and extended to cover all loans. 

In the automated system, loans would be recorded 
by borrower and by item number. The control would 
obviously be closely tied to Functions G and M, since 
each item borrowed would be an input to the NOS 
file (G) and the record of item use (M). Recall of 
overdue items would be semiautomatic, with a com- 
puter program which would print out at regular in- 
tervals, by borrower, lists of items due or overdue. 

Editing Functions 

Function J. Editing for Input and Output 
(Publication) . 

Service provided: Automatic editing, including 
selection of proper formats, etc., for new input entries 
added to the automated catalog. Automatic selec- 
tion and editing of catalog entries for publication. 

This function includes all operations involved in 
automatic editing of publications generated from the 
catalog. These publications include catalogs, demand 



bibliographies, and special listings beyond the scope 
of the console printout facilities. 

For publications, the editing processor would gener- 
ate a machine-readable record from the catalog, order 
entries in the required manner, and specify the proper 
format and type fonts for each element of the entry. 
It would also verify that each entry had the requisite 
number of elements such as author, title, date, etc., 
according to the specifications for the particular publi- 
cation concerned. Many of the recurring publications 
would have permanent editing programs; general pro- 
grams would be written for demand bibliographies for 
specific uses. 

Subsequent to the installation of the automated 
system, provision may be made for incorporating this 
function with Function K, the processing of digital 
text material and commentary. This would facilitate 
the complete automatic production of bibliographies, 
including annotations, introductions, etc. This might 
be accomplished with Flexowriters or similar devices 
combined with added special editing programs. 

It should be made clear that this function would not 
embrace the actual preparation of mats or the actual 
printing of general or specific Library publications. 
This function is concerned solely with the production 
of copy in proper format; the actual publication or 
mat preparation is included in Function K. The 
editing processor would generate copy in machine- 
readable form to be further processed by an automatic 
photocomposition mechanism which would then pro- 
duce mats for the actual publication. 

The second aspect of this function involves the edit- 
ing and formatting of entries for the automated cata- 
log. This function serves as an intermediate step 
between the input produced by the cataloger and the 
formal incorporation of the digital record into the 
catalog. This editing function would "shred-out" the 
index entries required for each new unit record. The 
unit record would be checked to determine whether 
or not all the appropriate information had been in- 
cluded with the proper field symbols. Errors or omis- 
sions would be relayed for display at the cataloger's 
console. 

Function K. Publication of Bibliographic Mate- 
rials. 

Service provided: Automatic publication of cards, 
bibliographies, catalogs, and indexes by the prepara- 
tion of printing masters or mats from machine-read- 
able copy. 



SKETCH OF FUNCTIONS TO BE PERFORMED 



45 



This function is primarily concerned with the prep- 
aration of mats or printing masters from the paper 
tapes or other machine-readable copy produced 
through the editing function (J). The hardware 
associated with this function is an automatic photo- 
composition device capable of producing masters to 
be further processed by the Government Printing Of- 
fice. 

This photocomposer must have a wide variety of 
type fonts and sizes and be capable of generating high 
quality printing. Only those Library publications pre- 
pared for permanent reference use, such as catalogs 
and extensive bibliographies, would require high qual- 
ity printing. Less permanent productions would prob- 
ably get a minimal standard printout form, perhaps 
not even requiring processing outside the Library. 
This function may also be extended to include genera- 
tion of copy for Library of Congress catalog cards 
ordered by other libraries. In this case, the card 
processing function would probably include a high- 
speed permanent program in the editing function (J) . 

Function L. Production of Photocopy. 

Service provided: Provides hard copy of items that 
cannot be circulated because of their physical condi- 
tion. 

This function includes microfilming and photocopy- 
ing Library materials that cannot be circulated or used 
in their original form because of bulk, fragility, or be- 
cause they exist only in microreproductions. 

Initially, this function would not differ significantly 
from the present system of hard-copy reproduction 
provided by the Photoduplication Service. Advances 
in print-reading techniques and other improvements in 
photocopy technology would be incorporated in the 
system as they become available and as demand for 
such service warrants. 

When published material becomes generally avail- 
able in digital form and is incorporated into the auto- 
mated catalog (see Function U), the production of 
hard copy would become fully automated. 

Administrative Functions 

Function M. Monitoring Use of the Collection. 

Service provided: Provides historical data of the 
use of each item in the automated Library. 

As items are retrieved from physical storage a use 
count would be generated automatically. The input 
to the use file could come either from the initial 



retrieval request or from the magnetic reading devices 
at charge desks. 

It is probable that no attempt would be made to dis- 
tinguish between the various purposes for which items 
would be used, except for staff versus nonstaff use. 
To some extent, the circulation records of books lent 
outside the Library would also serve to indicate the 
different uses and users for specific items. 

This function is closely allied with the location di- 
rectory and the NOS file which are associated with 
Function G. One of the requirements for Function G 
is the closing of library stacks; maintenance of item 
use counts is obviously dependent on a closed stack 
operation. 

Various data could be generated as part of Function 
M which would be of benefit to the Library adminis- 
tration. For example, statistics would be available for 
the number of books circulated by day and/ or time of 
day. Such data would aid in minimizing system over- 
loads by distributing low priority requests to periods 
of reduced demand and by optimizing distribution of 
deck attendants. 

Function N. Monitoring Catalog Use and Re- 
sponse. 

Service provided: Provides data on catalog use and 
response for reporting, quality control, and catalog 
modification. 

Catalog use would be monitored and data collected 
for certain specified categories, such as the following: 

1. Use by search mode, e.g., author, author-title, sub- 
ject. 

2. By user category (staff or nonstaff, and, if staff, 
by function, e.g., cataloging, telephone reference, 
LRS, etc.). 

3. By priority (optional). Certain uses may have 
priority for processing, e.g., congressional requests. 

4. By output mode requested (display, hard copy, or 
both) . 

5. By catalog response, e.g., completed search, nega- 
tive response, etc. 

With respect to the last item, it is assumed that the 
automated catalog would have preset responses when 
search results were negative. Most, but not all, of 
such negative responses would be useful in measuring 
the adequacy of catalog performance. Such re- 
sponses could be coded, stored, and printed out 
along with the verbatim query, instead of merely be- 
ing tallied. This may indicate areas for improvement 
in cataloging or for additional search modes, e.g., auto- 
matic searching under variant spellings of a name, 



40 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



redefinition of a subject heading, or additional refine- 
ment in instructions for catalog use. 

Function O. Business Data Processing. 

Service provided: Business accounting concerning 
acquisitions, interlibrary services, and other bibliogra- 
phic services. 

This function includes all bibliographic services for 
which the Library charges the users or pays dealers. 
This function will administer billing and accounting 
for the following categories : 

1. All purchased and priced-exchange items acquired 
or sent out by the Library. 

2. All fee services provided for individuals, other 
libraries, or Government agencies, including photo- 
copy, demand bibliographies, special searches, etc. 

3. Sales of LC publications not distributed by the Gov- 
ernment Printing Office. 

4. Sale for LC printed catalog cards. 

This function is restricted primarily to on-line or in- 
formation handling services performed by the Library. 
It is not within the scope of this study to consider the 
automation of purely administrative accounting for 
payrolls, equipment, funding, etc. 

(Note: The Library of Congress is acquiring a small gen- 
eral-purpose computer and related data processing equipment 
in January 1964. This system will be used for general Library 
accounting including some of the data-processing activities 
noted above. It is possible that, by the time a general auto- 
mated system is installed, most, if not all, of the operations 
associated with Function O may already be automated and 
only integration of the existing equipment with the general 
system will be required.) 

Function P. Maintaining Exchange and Gift 
Records. 

Services provided: Provides records of items avail- 
able for exchange, exchange agreements, items sent 
out on exchange, items requested and received on 
exchange, and gift sources. 

This file would embrace most of the outflow activ- 
ities and some of the inflow activities associated with 
the exchange and gift programs of the Library. In 
addition to maintaining a partial list of items available 
for exchange, 4 this function would include the follow- 
ing operations: 

1. Maintain records of all exchanges and gift sources 
with information on addresses, key personnel, areas 
of special interest, and type and date of exchange 

4 Most of the exchange outflow consists of U.S. Government 
publications. 



agreement — all with coded field symbols and ap- 
propriate code abbreviations. 

2. Periodically generate lists of items forwarded to ex- 
change partners by name of institution, with in- 
formation on the date, number, and/or value of 
items accepted. 

3. Generate lists of items received by the Library from 
exchange and gift sources, and generate automatic 
acknowledgement of such receipts. 

4. Provide for periodic and automatic review of the 
status of exchange agreements with respect to ac- 
tivity and value of such agreements. 

Of the four operations listed, all but the first require 
extensive access to the automated records associated 
with monograph and serial acquisition (Functions A 
and B). Although exchange items forwarded for in- 
corporation in the Library collection would be entered 
in those acquisition files with appropriate exchange 
codes, the administrative control of the exchange func- 
tion would be primarily centered around files asso- 
ciated with Function P. 

Function Q. Scheduling Library Operations. 

Service provided: Accounting, status reporting, and 
scheduling of Library operations. 

This function is essentially one of management con- 
trols. All sequential processes would be analyzed 
periodically in order to inform each succeeding stage 
of any workload variations. Trends in Library use 
would be analyzed to optimize space and labor allo- 
cations. Special programs would analyze data for- 
warded from various operating divisions of the Library 
through monitoring of the catalog and consoles. This 
function could be expanded as finer management tools 
were required to provide an effective liaison between 
the automated system and the Library administration. 

Miscellaneous Functions 

Function R. Providing Special Graphic Retrieval. 

Service provided: Provides access to a limited col- 
lection of documents and permits reproduction on 
console or by hard-copy device. 

This function represents a type of service which 
could be provided in the automated library if demand 
warrants. For the purpose of this report, the applica- 
tion chosen for costing purposes was the file main- 
tained by the Legislative Reference Service for ready 
reference in response to congressional inquiries. Other 
applications to be developed later include files main- 



SKETCH OF FUNCTIONS TO BE PERFORMED 



47 



tained by the Defense Research Division, the Aero- 
space Information Division, specific Law Library col- 
lections, and other divisions concerned with servicing 
pictorial or subject-oriented materials. 

At present, the Legislative Reference Service clip- 
ping file and the other special files noted above are 
maintained separately from the Main Catalog. It is 
expected that this separation will continue. This func- 
tion would be largely independent of the system as a 
whole; however, when material in these separate files 
had relevance to a query put to the automated catalog, 
the user would be referred to the special files. 

Function S. Communication with Other Institu- 
tions. 

Service provided: Involves direct communication 
between the Library of Congress and cooperating li- 
braries and Government agencies. Provides direct ac- 
cess to Library of Congress catalogs for output-only 
information. 

This regional communications network would link 
the Library of Congress with other cooperating librar- 
ies and with special users, such as Members of Con- 
gress and Government agencies. The regional ter- 
minals would be similar to the output-only consoles 
used in the Library. In addition to queries directed 
to the central catalog, provision would be made for 
communication concerning interlibrary loans or gen- 
eral reference questions not specifically requiring use 
of the catalog. 

While it is anticipated that the regional communi- 
cations terminals eventually would connect directly 
with the automated catalog, in the initial stages com- 
munication between regional terminals and the cat- 
alog would undoubtedly require an intermediate step 
with, for example, the Library of Congress staff re- 
ceiving and replying to these queries. 

Function T. Converting Existing Files to Machine- 
Readable Form. 

Service provided: Provides means for converting ex- 
isting Library records (e.g., catalog cards) to machine- 
readable form and for incorporating prior holdings 
into the automated system. 

If devices capable of automatically converting 
printed library cards to machine-readable form be- 
come available, this function will become essentially 
automatic, otherwise presently available nonautomatic 
or semiautomatic techniques will continue to be used. 

For the purpose of costing, it has been assumed that 
the conversion process would be, for the most part, a 



straightforward translation of the old catalog cards. 
There would be no overall program of editing or re- 
vision, even though there may be certain inconsisten- 
cies in cataloging style. It is expected that the uniform 
editing provided in Function J, as well as certain more 
or less independent checks within the automated cat- 
alog, would screen most of the important errors that 
have accumulated in the catalog over the years. 

The conversion of existing catalog files to digital, 
i.e. machine-readable form, might not need to begin 
until the system is in operation. As previously men- 
tioned, certain files, such as the authority files, must 
be converted before the system can become efficient. 
The automated catalog at its inception could be es- 
sentially empty with no retrospective records. There 
would then be a simultaneous program of entering new 
records and converting old records at some predeter- 
mined rate. Exactly how this conversion would pro- 
ceed has not been determined, pending further investi- 
gation into the use of the catalog and the collection 
with respect to date of imprint and other variables. 
Although the criteria for selection have not yet been 
determined it is anticipated that there would be some 
systematic and continuing conversion of the existing 
catalog, so that the automated catalog would expand 
both from new entries and conversion of old entries 
from the date of its inception. 

Function U. Processing Materials Received in 
Digital Form. 

Service provided: Processing of published material 
obtainable in digital form for inclusion in the auto- 
mated library system. 

When published material becomes available to the 
Library in digital form from publishers, and when the 
necessary techniques are developed, this material will 
be processed to automatically or semiautomatically 
provide entries for inclusion in the automated catalog. 
Also, as equipment capable of automatic conversion of 
print to machine-readable form for many different 
typefaces and sizes becomes operational, this equip- 
ment would be used to implement this function. 

Function V. Controlling Intrasystem Communica- 
tion. 5 

5 This is the only function for which there is no correspond- 
ing block in the functional block diagram in Exhibit 1. In 
the block diagram the lines and arrows indicating the flow 
of information provide a better graphic analogy to this func- 
tion than would an additional block. 



4S 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Service provided: Routing of console requests to 
designated digital storage files and control of queuing 
by means of an intercommunication switching net- 
work. 

This function is roughly analogous to that of an au- 



tomatic telephone switchboard. In addition to rout- 
ing messages between consoles and storage files, it will 
also regulate the flow of messages to any one file 
through the use of automatically emitted requests to 
wait ( or "busy signals" ) . 



SECTION IV 



Statistics for Key Library Operations 



Summary 

An analysis of key library 7 operations was made in 
order to project the probable throughput and data- 
processing workloads for the automated system. These 
projections indicate that, in 1972, the Library will 
catalog 120,000 new titles, receive and search more 
than 2 milli on serial items, and distribute more than 
51 million catalog cards. In the same year it is esti- 
mated that a total of almost 4 million catalog uses 
will be made by readers and reference librarians. A 
discussion of the available data and the method of ar- 
riving at these estimates is given where necessary. 

Introduction 

Statistics of Library operations appear in the Annual 
Report of the Librarian of Congress and in the annual 
reports of various divisions and departments. These 
statistics necessarily reflect present administrative struc- 
tures and work units, with the result that much of the 
data is not applicable to the analysis of the require- 
ments of the automated system. Adjustments were 
made when present operations would be eliminated or 
greatly modified by automation or when the operation 
includes, but is not identical -with, operational units 
relevant to the automated system. Examples of these 
data include processing statistics which include opera- 
tions for items, e.g. Oriental materials, not expected 
to be included in the automated library in its early 
stages. 

Statistics are presented only for those operations 
which are relevant either to the storage capacity re- 
quired in the digital files or to the frequency of access 
required in the automated system. Most of the pro- 
jections developed are based on linear regression anal- 
yses; in general, only those projections with a correla- 
tion coefficient of .9 or greater were used. In instances 
where there was little correlation in the time series 



data, the subjective judgments of Library personnel 
were relied on, or estimates were developed on other 
bases ; in either case, such estimates are clearly labeled 
in the exhibits. 

Acquisitions and Internal Processing Activities 

The automated storage files associated with the 
acquisition and recording functions would record the 
recommendations for new acquisitions; the transfer 
of acquisitions to the cataloging divisions, bindery, or 
other appropriate location; the items recataloged or 
edited; and the receipt and holdings of serial titles. 
Statistics for these activities are given in Exhibits 8 
and 9. In cases where the regression analysis did not 
indicate a strong correlation, e.g. the r=.72 for items 
recommended, the predicted values given in Exhibit 8 
(and in other exhibits) were used only after approval 
of the top administration of the pertinent divisions. 

The number of inquiries answered in connection 
with processing activities have not behaved in a regu- 
lar pattern; between 1956 and 1960 the number was 
fairly constant, but there were sharp increases in 1955 
and 1961. In the absence of a meaningful trend, and 
because of the limited range of variation, a conservative 
estimate of 20,000 inquiries in 19/2 (the annual aver- 
age for 1955-61) is used. 

Similarly, the data for titles recataloged and edited 
show no systematic variation and again an arbitrary 
estimate of growth was made. In this case, an in- 
crease of 50 percent is projected, resulting in an esti- 
mate of 31,000 titles recataloged and edited in the 
automated system. 

Over the years, the number of volumes bound seems 
to have increased quite steadily. Therefore, the pro- 
jection of 150,000 volumes for 1972, based on the 
correlation coefficient for the time series regression of 
.88 is deemed adequate. 

49 



50 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 
Exhibit 8. — Statistics for Acquisition and Processing Activities: 1949-61 



Year 



Recommen- 
dations 1 

(000) 



Inquiries 
answered 
(000) 



Titles 
recataloged 
and coopera- 
tive editing 
(000) 



Volumes 
bound 
(000) 



New titles 
cataloged 2 
(000) 



1961 . 

1'1(,0. 

1959. 
1958. 
1957. 
1956. 
1955. 
1954. 
1953. 
1952. 
1951 . 
1950. 
1949. 



123. 5 
100. 9 
71. 2 
73. 2 
70. 2 
66.9 
64. 6 
33. 4 



27. 98 
24. 32 
22. 82 
24. 74 
24. 08 
24. 21 
24. 77 
21. 84 



20. 4 

21. 1 
24. 8 
21. 6 

18. 3 
20. 3 
20. 3 
20. 3 

19. 3 

20. 1 
16. 7 
15.2 
23. 4 



Correlation coefficient . . 
Predicted value: 1972 3 . 



r=. 72 
210, 000 



20, 000 



31, 000 



112 
111 

90 
82 
70 
68 
61 

58. 5 

61. 2 

62. 4 
56. 8 
64. 9 
52. 3 



r = . 88 
150, 000 



90. 4 
87. 9 
94.0 
81. 2 
72. 

72. 6 
76. 9 
71. 3 
68. 

73. 2 

74. 7 
70. 5 
58. 9 



r=. 86 
120, 000 



1 Includes recommendations received from the Reference 
Department and the Law Library. 

2 Descriptive Cataloging Division. 

3 Based on linear regression projection associated with the 



given correlation coefficient. Predicted values for columns 
two and three are based on estimates as explained in text. 

4 Predicted value of 126,000 was adjusted to 120,000 after 
discussions with Descriptive Cataloging Division administrators. 



Exhibit 9. — Serial Record Processing Statistics: 1953-61 



Year 



1961 

1960 

1959 

1958 

1957 

1956 

1955 

1954 

1953 

Correlation co- 
efficient 

Predicted value: 
1972 



Incoming 
pieces 
(000) 



1, 774. 8 
1, 830. 3 
1, 660. 3 
1, 472. 5 
1, 631.0 
1, 791. 2 
1, 668. 7 
1, 505. 6 
1,318.0 



r = . 67 
1 2, 100, 000 



New 
entries 
(000) 



13. 6 
12.5 
12. 7 

14. 5 
19. 9 
16. 4 
18. 2 

15. 5 
12. 6 



r=. 31 
20, 000 



Inquiries 
answered 
(000) 



52. 2 
52. 1 

43. 3 
42. 

44. 7 
48. 7 

45. 9 
38. 7 
33. 7 



r=. 83 
70, 000 



1 Predicted value of 2,244,000 was adjusted to 2,100,000 on 
basis of discussions with Serial Record Division administrators. 

A similar linear regression with a correlation co- 
efficient of .86 provides a basis for projecting statistics 
on the number of titles cataloged. The resulting esti- 
mate of 126,000, which would represent more than a 
25 percent increase in cataloging output by 1972, was 
adjusted to 120,000 after discussions with Descriptive 
Cataloging Division administrators. Among the rea- 
sons for this adjustment was the lack of space to ac- 



commodate the number of staff members which such 
a growth would imply. 

A significant portion of the acquisition and record- 
ing function of the automated library would be de- 
voted to the processing of incoming serial pieces. 
Exhibit 9 presents a projection of the data for the num- 
ber of serial pieces received, new entries added to the 
serial record, and inquiries answered concerning serial 
holdings. There has been a general, but not con- 
sistent, upward trend in the number of serial pieces 
received. The relevant linear regression line has a 
corresponding correlation coefficient of only .67. In 
view of this relatively low correlation, an estimate of 
2,100,000 incoming pieces for 1972 was agreed upon 
by Serial Record Division administrators as reasonable. 

The number of new entries added to the serial rec- 
ord each year has not behaved regularly in the period 
for which statistics are given. The resulting 1972 
projection, which cannot be justified by the low corre- 
lation, was nevertheless accepted as a reasonable esti- 
mate. The number of inquiries answered by the 
Serial Record Division has behaved more regularly 
over the past 8 years and, as a consequence, the result- 
ing projection of 70,000 inquiries may be considered 
reliable. 



STATISTICS FOR KEY LIBRARY OPERATIONS 



51 



Cataloging Activities 

The analysis of cataloging and catalog activities 
provides estimates for several functions of the auto- 
mated system including Function D. Catalog Use. and 
Function J, Editing for Input and Output. The data 
pertinent to cataloging in Exhibit 8 are used to estimate 
hardware requirements for these functions of the auto- 
mated system. 

The editing of new titles for the National Union 
Catalog is somewhat analogous to the cataloging of 
new acquisitions. It has been assumed that in the 
automated Library all National Union Catalog 
(NUC) reports of new titles would be edited and 
entered directly into the automated catalog. Under 
the present procedure there are several transfer opera- 
tions before the card reaches the file from which the 
published catalog is generated, since the present opera- 
tion has two separate routines according to the date 
of the publication reported. With automation this 
procedure would be greatly simplified and a program 
could be devised to do the sorting by date. The 
merging of the Library of Congress catalog and the 
National Union Catalog would obviate the need for 
processing new LC titles for inclusion in the National 
Union Catalosr. 

O 

Since the present NUC statistics do not differentiate 
between titles reported by the Library of Congress and 
those reported by other libraries, it is difficult to ascer- 
tain the net new non-LC titles added each year. After 
an analysis of the available overlapping statistics and 
discussions with ao!ministrators of the Union Catalog 
Division, an estimate for 1961 of 87,000 new, non-LC 
titles was developed. The projection of this estimate 
for 1972 was accomplished by assuming that the same 
proportional increase would apply to new NUC titles 
as was projected for the Library of Congress. The 
estimate of 118,000 new, non-LC titles for 1972 was 
confirmed by the division. 

Before new titles can be identified as such, they must 
be searched in the National Union Catalog and sub- 
sidiary files. All incoming reports are thus searched 
and confirmed either as new titles or as added locations 
for old titles (in the latter case they are posted on the 
existing card using an established location code of 
alphabetic characters) . The number of incoming 
cards has increased fairly steadily over the last 10 
years, as indicated in Exhibit 10. For the period 1952— 
61 there is a correlation coefficient of .98: the resultinsc 

3 o 

linear projection for 1972 is 2,042,000. The Division 



administration taking into account the fact that new 
libraries will be reporting, as well as other factors, 
suggested that this figure be raised to 2,400,000. 



Exhibit 10. — National Union Catalog Statistics: Cards 
Submitted by Other Libraries: 1949-61 



Year 


Number of cards 
submitted by 
other libraries 
(000) 


1961 


1,078 
1, 048 
1, 077 
919 
775 
664 
549 
550 
503 
475 
830 
1, 201 
867 


1960 


1959 


1958 


1957 


1956 


1955 


1954 


1953 


1952 


1951 


1950 


1949 


Predicted value: 1972 


r= .98 (1952-61) 
i 2, 400, 000 



1 Predicted value of 2,042,000 was revised to 2,400,000 at the 
suggestion of Union Catalog Division administrators. 



Catalog Use 

The expected frequency of automated catalog use 
is of particular importance in estimating the hardware 
requirements for, and the cost of, the automated sys- 
tem. Use of the catalog in connection with processing 
and cataloging activities has been presented in pre- 
ceding exhibits; catalog use in connection with other 
staff activities is analyzed in this section. 

The use of the catalog in connection with various 
reference activities is presented in Exhibit 11. Note 
that these figures do not reflect total reference services 
in the three categories tabulated, but only those requests 
estimated to have required use of the catalog. The in- 
crease in telephone requests has been quite regular 
from 1949 through 1961 as indicated by a correlation 
coefficient of .91. The linear projected volume of 
74,900 telephone inquiries and the 187,000 related 
catalog uses was considered sufficiently accurate. The 
annual volume of correspondence declined somewhat 
from 1949 to 1953 and then began a steady and regu- 
lar rise. After 1953 the correlation coefficient is .98, 
the figure used to estimate the total use based on the 
linear projection. The data which reflect reference 



52 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



help given to readers in the Library (in-person refer- 
ence) have behaved quite irregularly, due partly to 
administrative changes, e.g. changes in hours of serv- 
ice, exclusion of high school students, etc. Conse- 
quently data for in-person reference service were 
treated parametrically, as was the reader use of the 
catalog. 

In the absence of relevant statistics, an estimate of 
the number of items retrieved from the stacks for all 
purposes was determined indirectly. Retrieval for 
use within the building was derived by adding the total 
number of items delivered by Stack and Reader Divi- 
sion personnel to staff and readers and an estimate of 
the items retrieved by staff members themselves, and 
subtracting from this the number of items delivered 
to the Loan Division for use outside the building. A 
rough estimate made by the Office of the Information 
Systems Specialist determined that % of the items re- 
trieved for in-building use are for readers and the 
remaining *4 are for staff use. 

It was further assumed that, on the average, readers 
use the catalog four times for each book delivered. 6 
Based on this assumption, the 788,200 books delivered 
to readers required almost 3.2 million uses of the 
catalog. Since no trend in the number of volumes 
delivered by the Stack and Reader Division is dis- 
cernible, projections to 1972 were not made. 

Although the automation of the Card Division is be- 
yond the scope of this report, it is a distinct possibility, 
and, depending upon the system chosen, provisions for 
querying the central catalog by Card Division person- 
nel must be anticipated in the specifications of hard- 
ware for the catalog. Assuming a system where the 
Card Division made use of the automated catalog, 
then, by 1972, the projected use should approximate 
the number of "first cards" sold. The present system 



' This is an area where lack of detailed data made arbitrary 
assumptions necessary. The best available measure of reader 
use of the Library collection is the Stack and Reader Division 
count of volumes delivered; however, in order to estimate 
reader use of the catalog it would be better to have a figure 
for the number of titles delivered. We also know that readers 
use the catalog for books requested but not delivered for 
various reasons, and they use the catalog when retrieval of 
material is not desired. It was arbitrarily decided that all 
these uses could be approximated with sufficient accuracy by 
allowing 4 catalog uses per volume delivered, since that figure 
should allow for sufficient overestimation to account for uses 
not measurable by any available data. (For example, if the 
reader submits a slip for a 5-volume work on the history of 
Rome, or for 3 volumes of a particular serial, presumably he 
used the catalog a maximum of 4 times before selecting that 
particular title, but not 4 times for each volume.) 



requires various search techniques depending on the 
amount of information supplied by the purchaser: 
card number, author, title, series, etc. In the auto- 
mated system, once the entry is identified in the auto- 
mated catalog, either by card number, author, title, 
etc., the card number could be addressed on the con- 
sole, together with the corresponding order number, to 
whatever automated equipment selects or generates 
the requisite number of cards. 

The number of first cards sold from 1956 to 1961 
see Exhibit 12) has increased in an almost perfectly 
linear fashion. Based on a correlation coefficient of 
.98, the number of first cards sold in 1972 would be 



Exhibit 11.- 



-Estimated Catalog Uses 
Services: 1949-61 



for Reference 



Year 



1961 . 

1960. 

1959. 

1958. 

1957. 

1956. 

1955 

1954. 

1953. 

1952. 

1951 . 

1950. 

1949. 



Correlation coefficient . 



Predicted value: 1972 5 . 

Weighting factor 6 

Total catalog uses: 1972 7 . 



Number of reference questions 
requiring use of the card catalog 1 



In-person 2 

(000) 



102. 8 
196. 9 
100.0 

107. 9 

103. 3 
79. 7 
96. 

108. 1 
130. 2 
132. 1 



180, 000 
2. 
360, 000 



Correspond- 
ence 3 
(000) 



Telephone 4 
(000) 



13. 9 
12. 3 
11. 8 
11.0 
9. 3 
6. 2 
6. 
4. 9 
3.7 
4. 3 
4. 5 
6. 2 
7.0 



.98 
(1953-61) 
28, 600 
5. 
143, 000 



41. 9 



44. 5 

45. 3 
47. 9 
45. 6 
37. 1 
36.6 
25. 
25. 
25. 
25. 
24. 
19. 



. 91 

74, 900 
2. 5 
187, 000 



1 Includes General Reference and Bibliography Division, 
Hispanic Foundation, Rare Book Division, Science and 
Technology Division, and Slavic and Central European 
Division. 

2 An estimated 70 percent of all in-person reference questions 
require use of the card catalog, based on interviews with 
reference librarians. This represents use of the card catalog 
by reference librarians on behalf of the patron, not use by the 
patron himself. 

3 Most letters drafted in response to reference questions require 
use of the catalog; form letters do not usually require use of the 
catalog. 

4 Interviews with telephone reference librarians indicated 
that approximately 80 percent of telephone reference questions 
require the use of some catalog (e.g. the L. C. printed catalog); 
only % of these, however, require the use of the card catalog. 

6 Based on linear regression analyses. 

6 The average number of individual catalog uses associated 
with each request. 

7 Predicted number of requests in 1972 times the weighting 
factor rounded to the nearest thousand. 

8 See Exhibit 15 and accompanying Note 8. 



STATISTICS FOR KEY LIBRARY OPERATIONS 



53 



slightly more than 11.4 million. To better reflect the 
actual number of projected catalog uses, this estimate 
was adjusted to exclude cards for materials not ex- 
pected to be included in the initial automated system, 
e.g. Orientalia, music, etc. These "excluded" cards 
have averaged 12 percent of the total volume of first 
cards since 1955. Reducing by 12 percent, the 
projected volume for 1972 yields an estimate of 10 
million catalog uses. 



Exhibit 12. — Card Division Statistics: 1949-61 



Year 


total cards 
distributed 
(000) 


rirst cards 
(000) 


1961 


40, 282 
37, 709 
35, 220 
33, 322 
31, 745 
29, 115 
27, 598 
26, 204 
25, 380 
25, 767 
24, 966 

24, 984 

25, 642 


8, 001 
7, 492 

6, 725 

7, 098 
6, 359 
6, 303 


1960 


1959 


1958 


1957 


1956 


1955 


1954 




1953 




1952 




1951 




1950 




1949; 




Correlation coefficient 

Predicted value 1972 




. 93 

51, 397, 000 


.92 

i 10, 067, 000 



1 This predicted value was adjusted from 11,440,000 to 
exclude retrieval of cards not expected to be included in the 
automated catalog, e.g. map cards, oriental-language cards, 
etc. 



Circulation and Retrieval Activities 

The key statistics associated with circulation and 
retrieval operations are the number of volumes re- 
trieved by the Stack and Reader Division and the 
additional number of items retrieved by the Photo- 
duplication Service. Each of these is more or less 
directly applicable to the determination of the hard- 
ware requirements for Function G of the automated 
system, Control of Item Handling and Location. In 
the automated system, this function would also include 
the assignment of storage locations for new volumes 
added to the collection, for this reason the number of 
new volumes shelflisted is a pertinent figure. 

I 



All data mentioned above are shown in Exhibit 13. 
Since neither the items retrieved by Photoduplication 
nor the volumes delivered by Stack and Reader show 
any systematic change over time, the total number of 
volumes delivered in 1972 is assumed to be equal to 
the present total of approximately 1.1 million. 

Time series data on the number of loans indicate 
irregular fluctuations from year to year, although a 
distinct upward trend is discernible. The linear pro- 
jection of 238,000 for 1972 is somewhat questionable, 
since the coefficient of correlation is only .67, and the 
level of operation has actually declined since 1959. 
An estimate of 220,000 loans, which allows for a 
smaller increase was therefore used. 

The shelflisting statistics (Exhibit 13) are similarly 
inconclusive and do not permit any meaningful projec- 
tion. Elsewhere in this appendix, greatly increased 
workloads are projected for the closely related opera- 
tions of cataloging and serial processing. Since bound 
serial issues and new monographic acquisitions are the 
primary inputs for shelflisting, an estimate of 180,000 
volumes for 1972 was made to allow for this increased 
effort. 



Exhibit 13. — Statistics for Volumes Delivered, Retrieved 
by Photoduplication, Shelflisted, and Lent: 1949-61 





Items re- 


Volumes 








trieved by 


delivered 


Volumes 




Year 


Photodu- 


by Stack 


shelflisted 


Loans 




plication 


and Reader 


(000) 


(000) 




Service 


Division 






(000) 


(000) 






1961 


140. 7 


955. 4 


106.0 


202. 1 


1960 


110. 3 


956. 7 


107. 2 


202. 5 


1959 


95. 9 


946. 9 


116. 1 


217. 9 


1958 


79.2 


1, 043. 1 


104. 7 


207. 1 


1957 


82. 5 


945. 1 


99. 7 


200. 9 


1956 


87.0 


969. 


110. 7 


205. 5 


1955 


93. 8 


957. 6 


110. 1 


183. 3 


1954 


148. 2 


1, 016. 9 


96. 8 


201. 8 


1953 


84. 


1,032. 8 


108. 9 


196.2 


1952 


68. 1 


1,046.4 


110. 2 


211. 9 


1951 


68. 6 


1, 035. 8 


102. 2 


183. 6 


1950 


68. 2 


1, 142.5 


103.6 


183. 7 


1949 


114. 6 


1 087.8 


98. 1 


167.5 


Predicted 










values: 1 1972. . 


140, 700 


955, 400 


180, 000 


220, 000 



See accompanying text for basis of predictions. 



SECTION V 



Basic Hardware Specifications 



Summary 

In this section the functions and workload statistics 
developed in preceding sections provide the basis for 
an analysis of the gross specifications for equipment 
capable of serving the automated Library adequately. 
This equipment includes a processing file with a ca- 
pacity of approximately 9X 10 s bits with 22 uses per 
minute and a central catalog group with a minimum 
capacity of 4.7 X10 10 bits and a proposed 10 12 bit 
capacity (to allow for growth of Library catalog and 
development of finer indexing) with frequency of use 
ranging from 134 to 206 uses per minute. The other 
major hardware groups include a circulation and re- 
trieval complex with a 1.2 X 10 9 bit file capacity with 
39 uses per minute, 50 off-line electric typewriters, and 
70 limited-capacity magnetic-print readers. The con- 
soles proposed for the Library have a 1,000 character 
screen capacity with associated internal buffering; 
from 148 to 163 such consoles are required for basic 
Library activities, exclusive of fee services and network 
communications. 

Introduction 

Although many general requirements for the hard- 
ware equipment were considered during this study 
and, to some extent, treated in this report, the primary 
focus has been on detailed analyses of the require- 
ments for digital storage capacity and frequency of 
use (file access) . The significance of these two factors 
is due to the large volume of bibliographical informa- 
tion that must be stored digitally and to the necessity 
for constant and rapid access to this store of informa- 
tion. On the basis of these requirements and the 
operational requirements developed in Section III, 
it is possible to determine generally, and in some cases 
specifically, the capabilities required of equipment 
needed for an automated Library system. 
54 



In this report "capacity" refers to fast-access storage 
capacity in separate digital-form files that may be 
associated with general computers, not to the core 
memory capacity of those computers themselves, and 
it is presented in terms of both characters and bits (in 
the summary exhibits only numbers of bits are used). 
The term "use" in the phrase "frequency of use" re- 
fers to a completed single look-up on the part of the 
operator or reader. This look-up may require one or 
several "access" cycles by the computer in the relevant 
storage file. Only one cycle would be required when 
the desired item is uniquely identified in the search 
request, but in many cases the desired item, or items, 
may be identified only by the fact that they satisfy 
several different search criteria. In these latter cases, 
a single use may require numerous cycles of the com- 
puter in order to compare several different items in 
different parts of the storage file. 

The Central Catalog 

The largest single storage file in the automated sys- 
tem is the central catalog. This, at the maximum, 
could be a single integrated file containing the full 
contents of the National Union Catalog and therefore, 
by definition, the Library of Congress main catalog. 
The organization and suggested search modes for this 
catalog are discussed in Section III of this Appendix. 

At the maximum, i.e. including the National Union 
Catalog, this file is estimated to require a capacity of 
4.5 x 10 10 bits by 1972 (see Exhibit 14). This ca- 
pacity relates only to the initial size without allowance 
for future growth or for the addition of new indexes. 
It is obvious that an automated catalog would provide 
opportunity for the development of new indexes, re- 
finements in cataloging, and the possible introduction 
of text material in digital form into the central cat- 
alog. For this reason, there is little basis for attempt- 
ing even an approximate estimate of the growth of 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



55 



this catalog file subsequent to its installation; obviously parity estimates are not particularly significant at the 

the hardware must be modular in design. margin and will affect costs only if there are errors in- 

The cost of storage files does not vary continuously during order-of -magnitude changes.) 

with respect to capacity. For the most part,, increases Exhibits 15 and 16 show the frequency with which 

in file capacity are such that, for the purpose of price ^e central catalog is expected to be used. The total 

comparison, a significantly large file will have a ca- annual use estimated for different categories reflects 

pacitv 100 or 1.000 times larger than the next smaller ^eiing total hours of ^tion, e.g. some units of 

. , . . . . „ the Library are open on weekends, others maintain a 

categorv. At the present time, existing commerciallv ' r . . . , 

° ' n , , . ' 40-hour workweek. Roushlv estimated peak load 

available rapid access files do not much exceed llr u . t . , 

r . factors were applied to the resulting frequencies per 

bits of storage capacitv. The next major development , . . . c a . .■ ■ + i 

° r j j r hour or per minute to account tor fluctuations m the 

under consideration is a trillion-bit (10 12 ) read-only ^ of uge _ Nq ^ loading ^ aUowed for gtaff 

file. With such a file, the need for precision m the Qr fge service use _ since it was assume d that these uses 

measurement of the central catalog is vastly reduced, can be more easi]y pre di c ted and scheduled than can 

since the trillion-bit memory would permit a twenty- ^ wn ich depend on the number of readers in the 

fold expansion in the initial size of the central catalog. Library. In addition, any special pressure on these 

(These conclusions also apply to the other storage files activities could be compensated for by transferring 

discussed in this section. Possible errors in the ca- some operations to off hours. 

Exhibit 14. — Central Catalog Specifications: Initial Size 

A, Title Count 

Number of titles in National Union Catalog in 1961 1 10, 500, 000 

Number added bv 1972: 2 

To Library- of Congress Catalog 1 , 1 00, 000 

To National Union Catalog (other than Library' of Congress) 1, 250, 000 

Total number of titles in 1972 12, 850, 000 

B. Character and Bit Counts 



File or index 



Unit 



Characters 
per unit 



Number 
of units 



Total 
characters 



1 . Basic card file 

2. Author index 

3. Subject index 

4. Title index 

5. NUC index by item 

6. Card number index 

7. Item numbers for indexes 2 to 6 . 

8. NUC index 

Bv location 



Library card. . . , 
Author name . . . 
Subject heading . 

Title 

Location code. . 
Card number . . . 
Item number . . . 
Location code . . 
Item number . . . 



3 275 


12, 850, 000 


3 18 


* 5, 000, 000 


3 23 


s 285, 000 


3 40 


12, 850, 000 


6 


s 192, 750, 000 


7 


12, 850, 000 


8 


» 64, 250, 000 


6 


s 1, 600 


8 


192, 750, 000 



3, 533, 750, 000 
90, 000, 000 
6, 555, 000 
514,000, 000 
1, 156, 500, 000 
89, 950, 000 
514,000, 000 
9, 600 
1,542, 000, 000 



Total number of characters in initial catalog 

Total number of bits in catalog at 6 bits/character. 



7, 446, 764, 600 
4.5 x 10 10 



1 Douglas Bryant, Chairman of the Committee on the Pres- 
ervation of Research Library Materials, cited in the Library 
of Congress Information Bulletin, June 18, 1962, p. 307. 

2 Increase 1961—72 estimated in the following manner: 





Annual growth 


11 -year 
increase 


1961 


1972 


61-72 
average 


LC Catalog. . 
Other NUC 
Catalog . . . 


80, 000 
91, 000 


120,000 
118, 000 


100, 000 
104, 500 


1, 100, 000 
1, 250, 000 



* A study conducted by the Office of the Information Systems 
Specialist of the Library of Congress in 1961 indicated a mean 



number of characters per card of 237. This included the call 
number but not the spaces between words. The additional 37 
characters allow for spaces and field symbols. The same study 
developed mean number of characters for author, title, and 
subject heading. 

4 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation based on twice 
the number presently estimated for Library of Congress 
Main Catalog. 

5 Estimate from actual count in 1953 plus observed and 
expected increases (see Exhibit 23). 

6 For each title an average of 15 locations estimated (gen- 
erously) by Library personnel: 15 x 12,850,000 = 192,750,000. 

7 The character counts for items 2 and 6 reflect only the 
indexing descriptors and not the item numbers indexed. 
These item numbers are reflected as a single calculation, the 
number of titles times the 5 indexes per title: 5 x 12,850,000 = 
64,250,000. 

8 Estimate of number of cooperating libraries by Library 
personnel. 



56 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Available statistics on the number of readers in the out the country, with each console handling 15 re- 
Library do not show a significant trend (Section IV) . quests per hour. The higher level projects 200 con- 
For this reason, reader use and in-person reference use soles with a maximum average frequency of 20 uses 
of die Library are treated parametrically, as is com- per hour per console. The resulting total catalog use 
munication widr the catalog by other libraries through from all categories within and outside the Library 
the regional communications network. For the reader ranges between 2.05 and 3.2 uses per second, 
and in-person reference use, two levels of operation 

were chosen for the purpose of making cost estimates : <-ri . i r» • T-.-7 

(1) the present use level, and (2) an increase of 50 ^ M °™g™P h Processing File 

percent over the present use level. This file is required for Function A, Recording of 

Since no historical data exist on the use of a nation- Monograph Acquisition and Internal Processing. Un- 

wide library communication system, such as the one like the central catalog this file does not need to be 

proposed, estimates of use were based on two arbitrary cumulative. It need only record those items currently 

assumptions. The lower use level is based on the recommended for acquisition or items being processed 

presence of 100 consoles at research libraries through- prior to formal incorporation in the central catalog 

Exhibit 15. — Central Catalog Specifications: Number of Uses Per Year 

Estimated uses Estimated uses 

Type of use per year: 1972 1 Xype of use per year: 1972 » 

A. Staff Use (not including in-person reference) : Defense Research Division 8 20, 000 

Cataloging 2 120, 000 

Recataloging and cooperative editing 31,000 Total 4,111,000 

Editing new NUC titles 1 1 8, 000 ===== 

NUC reports 2, 400, 000 B. Reader and In-Person Reference Use: 

Reference (correspondence) 143,000 Telephone Reference use 187,000 

Bibliography preparation 3 295, 000 In-person reference use » 360, 000 

Acquisition searching Reader use 3, 1 52, 000 

Reference Department * 282, 000 

T T ., ,,,, mn Total 3,699,000 

Law Library 5 1 46, 000 ' ' 

Selection Officer 6 50, 000 Q Fee uge . 

Decimal Classification Office 7 40, 000 Photoduplication 394,000 

Exchange and Gift Division 100,000 Card Division 10,067,000 

Legislative Reference Service 8 350, 000 

Aerospace Information Division 8 16, 000 Total 10,461,000 



1 Except where otherwise noted these estimates are taken 
directly from the discussion of key Library statistics in Section 
IV. 

2 No weighting factor is used for descriptive and subject 
cataloging use of central catalog, since most of the use of this 
will be associated with the automated catalog authority file (see 
Function C). 

3 The number of bibliographic entries varies widely from year 
to year. The number of catalog uses per entry also differs for 
bibliographies in different divisions. Questioning of biblio- 
graphers reveals an average of 10 uses per entry in the Rare 
Book and Slavic Divisions, 20 in the General Reference and 
Bibliography Division and only 2 per entry for bibliographies 
prepared by the Hispanic Foundation. Since the total 
number of catalog uses for preparation of bibliographies 
indicates no regular trend over time the estimate used here 
(295,000 uses) is based on the highest observed figure in the 
period 1955-61. 

4 This estimate is based on twice the number of title searches 
made in 1961 (93,651). Division personnel estimate 1.5 
catalog uses per title searched. The doubling of present 
operations is based in large part on the 70 percent increase 



projected for titles recommended (see Exhibit 8). 

5 This estimate was derived in the same manner used for 
acquisition searching in Reference Department discussed above 
in note (3), except for two numerical differences: Law Library 
personnel estimate 2.0 uses per title; number of titles searched 
in 1961 was only 36,657. 

6 An arbitrary assumption based on the limitation of this 
operation of the Selection Officer and one assistant for whom 
catalog searching is only a limited part of their activities. 

7 Based on an average of approximately 30,000 titles clas- 
sified for the past 15 years with provision for a maximum 
increase of 10,000 by 1972. 

8 No direct estimates of the number of catalog uses were 
available. Current estimates were calculated from the total 
time spent in catalog searching as reported by division personnel. 
No projections were made since there is no systematic relation- 
ship between the U3e of the catalog and the primary operations 
of the division. 

s Estimated at 1961 levels, allowing two catalog uses per 
item requested and searched in accordance with division 
estimates, plus additional provision for a maximum increase 
of 30,000 items by 1972. 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 

Exhibit 16. — Central Catalog Specifications: Number of Uses Per Hour and Per Second 



57 



Type of use 1 



Number of 
uses per 
year 1 



Peak load 
multiple factor 



Hours of 
operation 
per year 



Number of 
uses per 
hour 



Staff use 

Telephone reference use 

Reader and in-person reference use: 

Present level 

50 percent increase 

Fee service use 

Regional network use: 

Low projection 8 

High projection 9 



4, 111,000 
187,000 

3,512, 000 

5, 268, 000 
10, 461, 000 



2 1.0 
s 1. 5 

* 2.5 



2 1.0 



s 3, 000 
6 3, 000 

s 3, 700 

'7' 4,' 666' 



1, 370 

93 

2, 373 

3, 559 
2, 615 

1, 000 

4, 000 



Total Catalog Uses 



Assumptions 


Uses per hour 


Uses per second 


Present reader use, High regional use 


7, 451 


2. 1 


10, 451 


2. 9 


Reader use up 50 percent, Low regional use 


8, 637 


2.4 


Reader use up 50 percent, High regional use 


11, 637 


3.2 



1 See Exhibit 15. 

2 No peak loading provided for since it is assumed that these 
operations will be scheduled to minimize peaking. 

3 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation. 

4 Estimate based on hourly peak load factor of 2.46 for the 
number of persons using the catalog, according to a study 
conducted in 1961 by the Library's Information Systems 
Specialist. 

5 Assumes operation 12 hours per day (1}£ shifts), 250 days 
per year. 



6 Assumes operation 73 hours per week (the present hours 
of the Library) for 51 weeks per year (one week deducted 
for holiday closings). 

7 Assumes operation 16 hours per day (2 shifts), 250 days 
per year. 

8 Low projection assumes 100 regional terminals with a 
maximum of 15 requests per hour from each. 

9 High projection assumes 200 terminals with a maximum 
request frequency of 20 per hour from each. 



and location in the stacks. As indicated in Exhibit 17, 
the initial size of this file is small (3.6 million charac- 
ters) , since it would begin operation with only records 
of standing orders and of vendors used by the Library. 

The annual volume of transactions indicates that 
this file requires a capacity of approximately 46.6 mil- 
lion characters, if the average elapsed time between 
recommendation and formal inclusion in a catalog 
approximates one year. Although precise data are not 
available on the distribution of elapsed time, Library 
personnel have indicated that for most current acqui- 
sitions 6 months should be a reasonable maximum for 
an item to be fully processed under the present system. 
On this basis, a 6-month turnover period in the auto- 
mated system, which will be faster than the present 
system, should be a reasonable estimate. 

Based on this turnover rate, the required capacity 
for the monograph processing file need only accom- 



modate one-half the annual volume plus the initial 
order and vendor files, approximately 2.7 x 10 7 charac- 
ters, or 1.6 x 10 s bits. This capacity is less than 1 
percent of the size of the central catalog and is well 
within the spectrum of presently available equipment. 

The Serial File 

Estimates of the required capacity of the file asso- 
ciated with Function B, Recording Serial Acquisitions, 
Processing, and Holdings, are presented in Exhibit 18. 
One portion of this file should be a more or less perma- 
nent, cumulative record of serial titles with pertinent 
identifying information. That portion of the file re- 
quired for posting receipt of incoming serial pieces and 
transmittals to the bindery is essentially a transactions 
record and may be considered to be of relatively 
constant size. 



715-690—64 5 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Exhibit 17. — Monograph Processing File Specifications 

A. Initial size 
Standing order file: 1 

4,000 entries at 100 characters each 400 000 

Vendor file: a 

16,000 vendors at 200 characters each 3 200, 000 

3, 600, 000 

B. Capacity {annual volume) 

Items recommended (1972) 2 210, 000 

Characters per item recommended: 

Main entry 3 18 

Title 3 40 

Imprint 4 40 

Volumes 1 

Order number 6 

Status code 2 

Other information 6 43 

Total 150 

Total characters for items recommended 31 500, 000 

Tide to order number file <), 660, 000 

Order number to main entry file 5, 460, 000 

Total 46,620,000 

C. Total required capacity 

Initial size 3,600,000 

Annual volume reduced by 50 percent assuming maximum average elapsed time (recommendation to final 

cataloging) is 6 months 23, 310, 000 

Total (characters) 26,710,000 

Required capacity (in bits) 1.6 x 10 8 

D. Vse 

Number of uses 

Category per year: 1972 

Entering recommendations 210, 000 

Posting order numbers or purging for all recommendations 210, 000 

Accessioning pieces received 6 294, 000 

Posting transfer to cataloging 7 120, 000 

Reference requests 8 35, 000 

Posting transfer to bindery 9 30, 000 

Posting receipt from bindery 9 30, 000 

Recataloging and cooperative cataloging 10 20, 000 

Total 949, 000 



Number of hours of operation per year 

Number of uses: 

Per hour 

Per minute 

1 Estimates by Order Division personnel. 

2 See Exhibit 8. 

3 See character count estimates, Exhibit 14. 

* Estimate from Library of Congress card sample. 

6 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation. 

Pieces accessioned exceed recommendations due to standing 
orders and multiple volumes (pieces) per title. This estimate 
was derived by applying the 1961 ratio of pieces accessioned to 
titles recommended to the 1972 projection of titles recom- 
mended. 

7 See Exhibit 14. 



11 3, 000 

316.3 

5. 3 

8 See the discussion on acquisitions and internal processing 
statistics in Section IV. 

9 Estimated 20 percent of projected combined total of binding 
and rebinding in 1972. The balance of 80 percent was esti- 
mated to be attributable to serial binding. The projection of 
total volume was based on linear regression analysis with a 
correlation of coefficient r = .86. 

10 Assumed constant, i.e., equal to 1949-61 average. Mean 
absolute deviation in that period is 1,800. Includes cooperative 
titles adapted. 

11 Twelve hours (iy 2 shifts) per day, 250 days per year. 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



59 



Exhibit 18. — Serial File Specifications: Capacity and Use 



A. Capacity 
Initial size: 

Number of titles in 1961 (including approximately 150,000 inactive) 1 400, 000 

Estimated increase by 1972 2 187, 000 



Total 587,000 

Characters per serial file entry: 

Tide 3 94 

Frequency of issue 4 4 

Number of copies 2 

Routing 5 

Identification number 8 



Total 113 

Total characters 66, 331, 000 

Total bits 5 397, 986,000 

3.98 x 108 

Posting capacity: 

Average number of characters posted per acdve tide: 6 

6 issues at 10 characters each 7 = 60. 337,000 active titles at 60 characters each 20, 220, 000 

Binding records: 

120,000 volumes 8 bound at 15 characters each » 1, 800, 000 



Total characters 22, 020, 000 

Total capacity: 

88,351,000 characters. 
5.3 x 10 s bits. 5 

Number of uses 



B. Use Category per year 

Search and post receipts 10 2, 100, 000 

Enter new tides " 20, 000 

Answer reference inquiries 12 70, 000 

Post transfer to and receipt from bindery for 120,000 volumes 8 240, 000 

Search New Serial Tides reports 13 1 58, 000 



Total number of uses per year 

Assuming 3,000 hours of operation per year: 

Number of uses per hour 

Number of uses per minute 

1 Estimate by Office of the Information Systems Specialist 
confirmed by division administrators. 
J Estimated in the following manner: 

Present rate of annual increase 14, 000 

Estimated 1972 rate of annual increase con- 
firmed by division administration 20, 000 

Average (assuming linearity) over 11 years. 17, 000 
11 -year total=average xll 187, 000 

3 Based on random sample of 100 titles from current volume 
of New Serial Titles. 

4 Includes frequency per year (maximum 2 digits) and starting 
date (maximum 3 digits). 

5 Assumes 6 bits per character. 

6 Maximum number of issues per title posted before next 
volume is bound. Averaged for all active tides. 



2, 588, 000 

862.7 

14. 4 

7 Each posting requires date (3 digits) and routing (1 to 5) 
digits. Assume average is 5 characters per copy and 2 copies 
per issue. 

8 Estimated at 80 percent of total volumes bound and rebound 
projected for 1972; see note (9), Exhibit 17. 

9 Three dates at 4 characters each (dates of first and last issue 
bound, date sent to binder), binding code (1) and number of 
issues (2). 

10 Estimate confirmed by division administrators. 
" See note (2). 

1 2 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation based on 
linear regression analysis with a correlation coefficient r=.8. 

1 3 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation confirmed by 
division administrators. 



60 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



It has been assumed, in estimating the required 
capacity for the constant portion of the file, that, for 
all serial titles, an average of 6 issues are posted prior 
to binding (which clear the record) . The required ca- 
pacity for the serial file is slightly more than 88 mil- 
lion characters (5.3 X 10 s bits) with a use frequency 
of 14.4 per minute. 

The Exchange Record 

A significant portion of the serials and monographs 
added to the Library are acquired through exchange 
agreements with U.S. Government agencies, foreign 
governments, universities, and other libraries. Among 
the major problems in administration of the ex- 
change program, according to administrators in 
the Exchange and Gift Division, are accurate re- 
cording of items received from exchange partners, 
so that these may be acknowledged and balanced 
against the items offered, and keeping aware of the 
status of the thousands of exchange agreements. In 
part, these problems would be solved by the incorpora- 
tion of exchange partner codes in the digital records for 
monographs and serial acquisitions. Other aspects of 
exchange administration, such as descriptive informa- 
tion on exchange partners and the exchange balance 
with each, could be handled by an automated ex- 
change record. 

The capacity and use requirements of this exchange 
record file are presented in Exhibit 19. The perma- 
nent portion of the file, which determines its initial 
size, includes information on the more than 20,000 
exchange sources, with codes to permit search by spe- 
cial interest area, geographical location, type of ex- 
change agreement, etc.; additional capacity is re- 
quired to record the annual volume of transactions. 
Automation of the Library would cause drastic changes 
in the volume and type of transaction activities, since 
much of the pertinent information could be searched 
and selected automatically from the monograph and 
serial acquisitions files. A systematic projection of the 
transaction capacity requirements would involve both 
a detailed elaboration of the operations of the pro- 
posed system and a specific management study of 
present exchange procedures. In lieu of this effort, 
rough, and perhaps arbitrary, estimates of both trans- 
action capacity requirements and frequency of use 
have been developed, based in part on discussions with 
Exchange and Gift Division staff members who have 
administrative responsibilities. 



Exhibit 19. — Exchange Record Specifications 



A. Initial size t 
Number of exchange and regular gift sources 1 23, 000 
Number of characters required to describe 

each 2 600 

Total number of characters 13, 800, 000 

B. Annual volume 

Number of titles exchanged 3 100, 000 

Number of characters per single exchange 

request 4 200 

Total number of characters 20, 000, 000 



C. Total required capacity 

Number of characters 33, 800, 000 

Number of bits 2xl0 8 



D. Use 

Assume 5 uses per title: 6 

500,000 uses per year. 
Assume 3,000 hours of operation per year: 

166.7 uses per hour. 

2.8 uses per minute. 



1 Although based on present levels of activity this estimate 
provides for future expansion since only about 10 percent of 
the total number of exchanges (22,300) are presently active. 

2 Estimate by the Office of the Information Systems Specialist. 

3 Based on an Exchange and Gift Division estimate of 50,000 
titles in FY 1961, doubled to allow for future growth. 

4 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation. Author, 
title, identification, and exchange codes and dates of order and 
receipt together add to approximately 100 characters. An 
additional 100 are provided for other information. 

6 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation. 

The Location Directory and the Mot-on-Shelf 
File 

Function G, Control of Library Holdings, requires 
two related digital storage files: the location directory 
and the not-on-shelf file, for which capacity and use 
requirements are given in Exhibits 20 and 21, respec- 
tively. It is not anticipated that a major portion of 
the Library collection would need to be relocated as 
part of the transition to an automated system. How- 
ever, the closing of the stacks, which is anticipated, 
would permit more efficient shelving of new acquisi- 
tions and, as item-use data are generated by the sys- 
tem, the gradual and systematic relocation of holdings 
according to criteria, such as frequency of use and 
size. 

The annual growth of this directory file depends on 
the number of volumes relocated as well as the number 
of new volumes acquired and therefore cannot be pre- 
dicted accurately at this time. The growth estimates 
shown in Exhibit 20 should be interpreted as a reason- 
able guess at the possible growth. The maximum file 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



61 



capacity, generously estimated to provide for a collec- 
tion twice the present size, with specific location num- 
bers for every volume, is about 2 x 10 s characters or 
about 1.2 x 10 9 bits. This file would probably be used 
slightly more than 18 times per minute. 

The not-on-shelf file, closely associated with the lo- 
cation directory, would be consulted every time a 
retrieval request was made. Since it would be a cur- 
rent file of books not in the regularly assigned locations 
in the Library, it would be a small file with a more or 
less constant size. Estimated capacity for this file is 
4.7 million characters or 2.8 x 10 7 bits (see Exhibit 21 ) , 
about 2.5 percent of the size of the location directory. 

The Circulation File 

Records for all items lent outside the Library would 
be kept both by item number and by a borrower identi- 
fication code or name. The computations by which 
the capacity and use requirements for this file were 
developed are shown in Exhibit 22. The total re- 
quired capacity of the circulation file is 1.8 x 10 7 bits, 
roughly equal to that of the not-on-shelf file. Fre- 

Exhibit 20. — Location 

A. Initial size: 

Effectively zero; small directory relating existing stack lo- 
cation numbers to the existing Library of Congress classification 



schedule. 

B. Annual growth: 

New volumes shelflisted 1 180, 000 

Volumes relocated 2 1 00, 000 



Total 280, 000 

Entry size (for each volume): 2 

Characters 

Item number 8 

Deck number 2 

Shelf number 3 

Copy number 2 

Total 15 

Total annual growth: 
4,200,000 characters. 
2.52 x 10? bits. 



quency of use for this file is estimated to be 2.4 per 
minute. The foregoing estimates have been based on 
present levels of operations, and no projections have 
been developed for an increase in the number of loans, 
since the number of loans per year is largely determined 
by administrative factors, such as restrictions on mate 
rial that may be lent and on individual or institutional 
borrowers. 

Catalog Authority File 

The catalog authority file, associated with Function 
C, lists the author entries, subject headings, and cata- 
loging terms in the form established by the Library 
of Congress as a standard for its own cataloging and 
widely used by libraries throughout the country. 
Exhibit 23 indicates the requirements for capacity and 
access to this file. The initial capacity is estimated 
from data on present size and from projected growth 
trends ; the maximum capacity, arbitrarily set at twice 
the 1972 capacity, is 3.6 x 10 9 characters, or 2 x 10 9 
bits. 



lectory Specifications 

C. Estimated maximum capacity required: 

Number of volumes in Library: 1961 3 6, 440, 000 

Estimated maximum volumes (twice present 

collection) 13,000,000 

Estimated maximum characters in location 
directory at 15 characters per volume 

entry 195,000,000 

Estimated maximum number of bits 1. 2 x 10 9 

D. Use: 

Number of retrievals 4 1, 100, 000 

Number of not-on-shelf responses 4 to re- 
trieval requests 240, 000 

Number of volumes shelflisted 1 (combined 

new and relocation) 280, 000 



Total 1,620,000 

Assuming 3,700 hours of operation per year: 5 

Number of uses per hour 432. 8 

Number per minute 7. 3 

Peak load factor 6 2. 5 

Peak use frequency (uses per minute) 18.3 



1 See the discussion of circulation and retrieval activities in 
Section IV. 

2 Estimate by Planning Research Corporation. 

3 Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress for FY 1961. Prefers 
to classified collections only. 

4 Based on the 1961 volume for the combined total of Stack 
and Reader Division and Photoduplication Service which re- 
trieves items that are to be reproduced. No projection was 
made, since levels vary sharply and unsystematically from year 
to year, and what little trend can be seen seems slightly 
downward (see Exhibit 13). 



5 Reflects hours Library is open (73 hours per week; 51 weeks 
per year). This is somewhat high for staff use (estimated at 
3,000 hours per year) but is exactly equal to reader and in- 
person reference use. 

6 Based on peak loads in reader use (see note (4), Exhibit 16). 
Since a portion of total retrieval is for staff use, and hence is 
not subject to such large fluctuation, this estimate probably 
overstates use frequency and compensates for the high estimate 
of hours of operation (see note (6) above) which would tend to 
overstate use frequency. 



62 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 
Exhibit 21. — Not-on-Shelp File Specifications 



A. Initial size 

Transfer of "hard core," long-terra intralibrary charges from Central Charge File — 200,000 entries. 1 

B. Current file 



1 "irni* t~it PhOrfTA 
X V LJC Ul tUdlgC 


A 1 1 T 1 1 1 "'1 1 

volume 


Minimum 

annual 
turnover 4 


Peak load 
factor 


Maximum 
required 
capacity 
(entries) 7 




2 220, 000 
8 300, 000 
s 600, 000 


10 

6 

150 


« 1. 5 

6 1.0 

« 2. 5 


33, 000 
50, 000 
10, 000 


Staff 




Total 








93, 000 











C. Total required capacity 
Entries: 

Initial file 

Current file (maximum) . 



Total 

Characters per entry: 

Item number 

Status (location in Library) . 
Date charged 



1) 



Total 

Total characters 

Total bits 

Use 

Number of uses per minute 8 

1 Estimate from Stack and Reader Division statistics. 

2 Estimated at approximately equal to 1955-61 average in 
the absence of any discernible trends plus 10 percent for 
possible growth. 

3 Balance of charges (1,100,000 — 200,000 = 900,000) estimated 
to be no more than y 3 staff by Planning Research Corporation 
and the Office of the Information Systems Specialist. 



The process by which frequency of use was estimated 
for this file is closely parallel to that used in the case 
of the central catalog (Function D). The number of 
uses per operation, however, was adjusted to reflect 
the differing needs for authority information in various 
library operations. Resulting estimates, which range 
from 11.4 to 13.8 uses per minute, are much lower 
than estimates of total catalog use, since many types 
of catalog use are only occasionally associated with 
simultaneous use of the catalog authority file. 

The Combined Function Groups 

The preceding discussion stressed the interrelation- 
ship between the files associated with various functions 
of the Library. For example, the close relationship 
between the location directory and the not-on-shelf 
file is obvious, since they are always consulted simul- 



200, 000 
93, 000 

293, 000 

8 

4 
4 

16 



4, 688, 000 
2.8x10? 



18. 3 



* Estimates by Planning Research Corporation roughly 
based on average length of loan with a margin added to account 
for possible delinquency and time required for reshelving. 

6 Estimates by Planning Research Corporation. 

6 See Exhibit 16, note (4). 

7 Annual volume times reciprocal of minimum annual turn- 
over times peak load multiple. 

8 Identical with location directory. 

taneously. The circulation file is also closely asso- 
ciated with these files, since circulation of material 
is reported to the not-on-shelf file, and all circulation 
presupposes a prior retrieval via the location direc- 
tory. By relating storage files to function groups 
rather than to individual functions, certain economies 
in equipment purchase may be achieved, particularly 
with respect to the elimination of redundant support 
and searching equipment. 

A similar association exists between the monograph 
processing file, the serial file, and the exchange record. 
In addition to the fact that they all record the acquisi- 
tion or processing of new items for the Library, they 
are use-related because it may not be immediately evi- 
dent in which file a particular title might be, since 
the distinction between monographs and serials is not 
always clear, and since both types of acquisitions need 
to be included in the exchange records. 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



63 



Exhibit 22. — Circulation File Specifications 

A. Initial size: 

Zero. File will begin operation empty. 

B. Annual volume: 

Number of loans, i 220,000. 

C. Required capacity: 

Annual 

„ . j .„ volume Peak load 

Required capaaty=j^ m ^x fac{or 

annual 
turnover 

Minim um annual turnover 2 = 1 

Peak load factor 3 = 1.5 

Required capacity =^^°°xl. 5 = 33,000 loans 

Number of characters required: 

33,000 item descriptions at 70 characters 

each * 2, 310, 000 

33,000 borrower numbers at 6 characters 

each* 198,000 

6,600 borrower descriptions 6 at 80 charac- 
ters each s 528, 000 

3, 036, 000 

Number of bits required: 1.8 x 10 7 

D. Use: 

Annual volume of loans 220, 000 

Number of uses per year at 2.5 uses per loan 7 . . . 440, 000 
Number of uses per hour with 3,000 hours per 

year 146. 7 

Number of uses per minute 2.4 

1 2 3 See Exhibit 21 notes (2), (4), and (5), respectively. 

4 Estimate based on sum of following items: main entry (18 
characters); title (40); date of imprint (4); item number (8). 

5 Estimates by Planning Research Corporation. 

6 Assumes average of 5 loans per borrower. This is a very 
conservative estimate, since many Government agencies borrow 
hundreds of items at a time. 

7 Assumes one use for entering all loans and an average of 
0.5 recall uses for each item loaned. Canceling loans (one use 
per item) will be accomplished automatically with reading 
devices. 

The third combination of storage files involves the 
central catalog and authority file complex. The latter 
file would usually be consulted prior to using the 
catalog, although once an entry had been determined 
subsequent uses of the catalog might be made directly. 
Undoubtedly a small portion of the total catalog use 
would involve simultaneous searching of both files. 

The addition of the authority file to the central cata- 
log increases the required capacity by less than 5 per- 
cent, which, in view of the proposed trillion-bit file, 
further enhances the economies of combination. In 
Exhibit 24, the combination of the various files into 



groups has been shown in tabular form. In the bal- 
ance of this report other hardware requirements, as 
well as costs, will be estimated for these combined 
function groups rather than for the individual 
functions. 

The hardware required for these groups consists of 
general-purpose computers, storage files, auxiliary tape 
transport units, and, in some cases, on-line and off-line 
input and output equipment. In this report "general- 
purpose computers and support equipment" designates 
a complete functioning computer installation, includ- 
ing at least one tape transport unit but excluding the 
large auxiliary storage files and certain specific off-line 
equipment that will be enumerated. 

For the internal processing group, a medium-sized 
general-purpose computer was included, in addition to 
the storage file and two auxiliary tape transport units. 
An unusually large or sophisticated computer should 
not be required for this group, since neither the fre- 
quency of access (22.5 per minute) nor the complexity 
of the search routines requires unusual electronic so- 
phistication. The auxiliary tape units are included to 
allow for the numerous special programs and readouts 
which would be generated from this file for billing, 
acknowledging, accounting, scheduling, budget pre- 
dicting, etc. The other major hardware item is the 
storage file, which is adequately defined by the ca- 
pacity specifications summarized in Exhibit 24. 

The equipment complement for the circulation and 
retrieval group is similar to that for the internal proc- 
essing group. The combined storage files could be 
adequately served by a single medium-sized computer 
for the same reason cited above, although this file has 
a larger capacity and would be used more frequently. 
This group would also require auxiliary tape trans- 
ports and a storage file unit. 

In addition to the major hardware items discussed 
above, a large number of on-line input and output de- 
vices would be required. As outlined in Section III, 
status changes for circulated items would be reported 
semiautomatically by devices capable of reading mag- 
netic print and reporting changes to the not-on-shelf 
file. Similarly, requests for retrieval would be relayed 
to the appropriate stack locations in the form of auto- 
matically typed labels, which could be machine-inter- 
preted. Approximately 50 automatic typewriters and 
70 magnetic-print readers would be required in order 
to provide complete coverage for the stack decks and 
the various points in the Library where circulated 
materials are chareed or returned. 



64 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



The central catalog group differs from the other 
combined function groups in that its specifications can- 
not be stated in terms of presently existing equipment, 
although a general outline of what is expected of the 
automated search logic and catalog is given in Sec- 
tion III. A more detailed exposition of the specific 
hardware requirements is not possible without more 
study and statistical analyses of the number and type 
of possible and /or probable search strategies expected 
in the automated system. In view of this, the storage 
file and related hardware are treated as a unit; cost 



estimates are based on overall costs suggested by in- 
dustry representatives familiar with analogous existing 
systems and with development efforts. 

The general specifications for the two types of con- 
soles are for the most part identical, since they both 
require a maximum number of preset message formats 
and addresses, have similar keyboards, and require 
display screen capacity of a minimum of 1,000 charac- 
ters, with equivalent internal buffering. Detailed 
specifications of the minimum console keyboard char- 
acter set are presented in Exhibit 25. 



Exhibit 23. — Catalog Authority File: Specifications 

I. Initial size 



Type of entry 


Number of 


Characters per 


Total 




entries 


entry 


characters 




1 2, 490, 000 


* 68 


169, 320, 000 


Subject headings 


2 114, 000 


* 23 


2, 622, 000 


Subject cross-references 


3 171,000 


23 


3, 933, 000 


Cataloging rules 


1 


5 2, 890, 000 


2, 890, 000 


Total characters 






178, 765, 000 


Total bits 






1. 1x109 









II. Maximum capacity 

Estimated at twice 1972 size 
III. Staff use 



2.1x10° bits 



Operation 



Number of uses 
per 
operation 6 



Number of uses 
per year 



Establish authorities (61,200) 7 

Change authorities (12,900) 8 

Establish subject headings (4,100) 9 

Change subject headings (200) 10 

Cataloging and recataloging (151,000) 11 . 

Editing new NUC titles (118,000) 11 

Reference correspondence (143,000) 11 . . . 
Other staff use (3,699,000) 11 



Total staff use per year 

Staff use per hour for 3,000 hour year. 



IV. Summary: All uses Per hour 

Staff use 342.4 

Reader and in-person reference use: 12 

Present level , 237. 3 

Increase of 50 percent 355. 9 

Card Division author/title or subject searches 12 101. 6 

Regional network use: 12 

Low forecast 10 

High forecast 40 

See footnotes at end of table. 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 

Total use per minute 



65 



Reader use projection 



Constant 



Up 50 percent 



Low regional use forecast . 
High regional use forecast . 



11. 5 
12.0 



13. 5 

14. 



1 Estimate derived in the following manner: average number 
of catalog cards per personal or corporate author in the Main 
Catalog, according to study made by the Information Systems 
Specialist in 1961, was 5.9. Applying this figure to the total 
volume of cards in the Main Catalog yields an estimate of 
1,852,000 authors. To this estimate was added the projected 
number of authorities to be established 1962-72 which equals 
633,600 according to a linear projection, for which the cor- 
responding coefficient of correlation is .90. 

2 Based on the sum of the following: 
Subject headings June 4, 1953. 48, 833 



Headings added FY '54-FY 21, 520 
'61. 

Headings to be added FY '62- 43, 890 
FY '72. 



Total 114,243 



Subject Cataloging 

Division 
Library Annual 

Reports 
Derived from linear 
projection based 
on 1953-61 data 
(r=.89) 



3 Based on ratio of 1.5 cross-references per subject heading 
according to Subject Cataloging Division estimates. 

4 Number of characters per author (18) and per subject 
heading (23) from Exhibit 14. An additional 50 characters per 
author are estimated for information to establish the authority. 

5 Based on estimated contents of the Library's Rules Jot 
Descriptive Cataloging (1959) and the American Library As- 
sociation's A. L. A. Cataloging Rules for Author and Title Entries 
(1949). 

6 Estimated by Planning Research Corporation. 

7 Based on linear regression analysis of the years 1953-1961, 
with a corresponding correlation coefficient (r = .90). 

8 Based on linear regression analysis of the years 1949-1961, 
with a corresponding correlation coefficient (r=.89). 

9 Based on linear regression analysis of the years 1949-1961, 
with a corresponding correlation coefficient (r=.89). 

10 Assumed constant at rate equal to 1949-1961 average. 

11 See Exhibit 14, total staff use minus cataloging, recata- 
Ioging, editing new NUC titles, and reference correspondence. 

12 Estimated to be .1 of total catalog use as calculated in 
Exhibit 14. 



Exhibit 24. — Combined Function Groups 

Capacity Frequency of access 

Internal processing group: (bits) (uses per minute) 

A. Monograph acquisition and processing 1. 6 x 10 8 5. 3 

B. Serial acquisition, processing, and holdings 5. 3 x 10 8 14.4 

P. Exchange record 2. x 10 8 2. 8 

Total for combined group 8. 9 x 10 8 22. 5 

Central catalog group: 1 

D. Catalog and automated search logic 4. 5 x 10 10 2 194. 3 124. 2 

C. Catalog Authority File (authors, subjects, cataloging symbols, rules, etc.) 0. 2 x 10 10 2 14. 3 11. 5 

Total for combined group 4. 7 x 10 10 2 208. 3 135. 7 

Circulation and retrieval group: 4 

G. Control of item handling and location: 

Location directory 11.7 x 10 8 18.3 

Not-on-shelf file 0. 28 x 10 8 18. 3 

I. Circulation file 18 x 10 ? 2. 4 

Total for combined group 12. 16 x 10 8 39. 

1 This group also includes Function N (Monitoring catalog use 3 Presumes low forecast of regional use and no change in 
and response) for which no separate specifications were developed. reader use. 

2 Presumes high forecast of regional use and a 50 percent 4 This group also includes Function M (Monitoring use of the 
increase in reader use. collection) for which no separate specifications were developed. 



715-690—64 6 



66 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



The various types of preset message formats and pre- 
determined operations for the consoles are described 
in Exhibit 26. Not all of these formats or operations 
would be relevant to all consoles; the output-only con- 
soles, for instance, would require three basic instruc- 
tions: display, hard copy, and retrieve. In addition 
to these instructions, the input-output consoles would 
have "enter" and "erase" instructions. A description 
of the console variations for various Library operations 
is presented in part C, Exhibit 26. 

In the system used for the costing analysis there are 
9 possible addresses or locations to which a console 
query may be directed and 8 storage files which may 
be queried: the central catalog, authority file, mono- 
graph processing file, serial file, location directory, not- 
on-shelf file, circulation file, and the exchange record. 
In addition, queries or instructions could be sent to 
the editing processor. Since several of these files are 
relevant only to specific operations in the Library, the 
maximum number of addresses that any specific con- 
sole would require is 6. 

Exhibit 25. — Console Keyboard Character Set 



Minimum 
number of 

Category characters 

English alphabet (upper and lowercase) 52 

Special characters in other Roman alphabets (upper 

and lowercase) 1 16 

Numbers 10 

Punctuation marks 1 19 

Diacritical marks 1 14 

Commonly used symbols 1 6 

Field symbols 2 11 



Total 128 

1 Based on actual count in the GPO Style Manual (1959), which 
describes the following languages using the Roman alphabet: 



Italian 



2 Includes only the most frequently used search modes. 
Numerous other combinations could be provided with nonsense 
letter configurations. The included fields are: 



Author Pagination 

Title Edition statement 

Subject Illustration statement 

Date Item number 

Language Classification number 



Country of publication 



The probability that a significant part of the total 
cost for the central catalog would include presently 
existing support equipment is not too great, since 
much of the input and many of the specialized out- 
puts would be controlled by means of hardware de- 
signed to edit input and output automatically (see 
Function J) . Similarly, any extensive program for 
modifying or reproducing the central catalog would 
also operate through this editing processor. 

An additional function to be implemented by the 
basic hardware for the automated catalog is N, Moni- 
toring Catalog Use and Response. This monitor 
should involve only a limited number of recording 
routines within the automated search logic and partial 
use of a tape transport for periodic readout and tabu- 
lation. This function is essentially internal to the 
automated catalog, and therefore hardware require- 
ments and cost are not analyzed separately. 

Consoles 

With the installation of a central catalog in digital 
form, the equipment required for access to this catalog 
and subsidiary files becomes of paramount importance 
in the Library operation. A large number of consoles 
would be required to provide the necessary access to 
these files for the Library staff and the readers. Al- 
though these consoles will vary somewhat, depending 
upon the particular files and operations with which 
they are associated, they are essentially of two types: 
the input-output console and the output console. The 
input-output console, for staff use only, permits add- 
ing to or changing the records in the various storage 
files. The output console is the more general type and 
would be used by both staff and readers for purposes 
of querying the central catalog and subsidiary files. 

Determination of the number of consoles required 
throughout the Library poses several problems. In 
many instances it was only possible to estimate very 
approximately the number of console operations con- 
nected with a specific activity. Wherever possible, the 
volume of such console use was taken at the high 
end of the probable range of estimates. In some 
library operations the use of the catalogs and files, 
which in the automated system would require a con- 
sole, is peripheral or occasional. In such cases, the 
number of consoles required was based on the number 
of man-years estimated to be spent, at present levels 
of operation, in catalog use. The resulting estimate 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



67 



Exhibit 26. — Preset Message Formats and Operation Instructions for the Consoles 



B. 



Message formats 
Input formats: 

a. Central catalog: simplified format for most entries. 

b. Central catalog: extended format for special or complex entries. 

c. Catalog authority file. 

d. Monograph processing file. 

e. Serial file. 

f. Location directory. 

g. Circulation file. 

h. Exchange file. 
Posting formats: 

i. New holdings reported to the National Union Catalog, 
j. Checking in new issues in serial file. 

k. Status changes for monograph processing file, serial file, and exchange file. 1 
Search formats: 

1. Basic format for all bibliographic files. 2 

m.-n. Specialized formats (two) for more sophisticated searching of central catalog. 3 
Special formats: 

o. Search circulation file by borrower. 

p. Instruct editing processor. 
Operation instructions 

1. Display. 

2. Printout (tear-off hard copy) . 

3. Retrieve. 

4. Enter. 

5. Erase. 

Message formats and operations per console: 
1. Type and use of console: 



Message formats used 



Total 
number of 
formats 



(See A above) 



Operation instructions 



Total 



(See B 
above) 



All output-only (Reader) consoles . . 
Input-output (Staff) consoles: 

Cataloging 

Monograph processing 

Serial processing 

Exchange and gift 

Circulation control 

Editing (input and publications) 

Item control 



1-n 

a-c, h, k, 1— n 

d, k, 1-n 

e, j, k, 1-n . . . 

h, k, 1-n 

g, 1-n, o 

1-n, p 

g, 1-n 



1-3 

1-5 
1-5 
1-5 
1-5 
1-5 
1-5 
1-5 



2. Maximum per console: 
Output-only consoles: 

3 formats, 3 operational instructions. 
Input-output consoles: 

8 formats, 5 operational instructions. 

1 Refers to such limited posting operations as noting item 
ordered, received, or canceled; item offered, withdrawn, 
received; serial title discontinued. 

2 Includes author, title, subject, item number, and classifica- 
tion number search modes. 



3 Provides for searching by less frequently used modes, e.g., 
NUC library symbol, publisher, date, pagination, etc., and 
by special combinations of search modes, e.g., author-date- 
language, date-pagination-subject, subject-illustration-date, etc. 



68 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



of man-years was adjusted to allow for increased effi- 
ciency of console use compared to manual consultation 
of files. 

Exhibit 27 indicates the estimated number of con- 
soles required by various library operations, catego- 
rized by input-output consoles and by output consoles. 
Because of the problems in estimating probable use 
of the system by readers and by outlying libraries via 



the regional communications network, consoles for 
these uses were estimated parametrically and there- 
fore expressed as a range. The maximum number of 
consoles anticipated is 409 for all uses; the minimum 
is 294. In both instances the number of input-output 
consoles is 55. Excluding fee services and regional 
uses, the number of consoles used in the Library is 
either 148 or 163 depending on reader use. 



Exhibit 27. — Number of Consoles Required 



Category 



Division or function 



Number of consoles 



Input- 
output 





Output 
only 


Total 


15 


1 


16 


5 


20 


25 


5 


1 


6 


2 





2 


3 





3 


1 





1 


8 





8 


12 


1 


13 





22 


22 





2 


2 


2 





2 


2 





2 





3 


3 





2 


2 





11 


11 





30 


30 





2 


2 





44 


44 



A. Staff use . 



B. Reader use .... 

C. Fee service use. 



1. Serial acquisition and processing 

2. Cataloging 1 

3. Monograph acquisition and processing 

4. Location directory 2 

5. Exchange file 

6. Editing Processor 

7. Circulation file 3 

8. NUC posting 

9. Reference service 

10. Searching for recommending function (Reference 
Department and Law Library). 

11. Selection Officers 

12. Cyrillic 

13. Aerospace Information Division 4 

14. Defense Research Division 4 

15. Legislative Reference Service 

Reader (present levels of operation) 

1 . Photoduplication Service 

2. Card Division 



Summary 



Broad categories of use 


Number of consoles 


Input-output 


output only 


Total 


Fee services (Card Division and Photoduplication Service) 


55 




93 
46 
100 


148 
46 
100 


55 




239 
+ 15 
+ 100 


294 
+ 15 
+ 100 


Adjustment for 50 percent increase in reader use 

Maximum total 


55 


354 


409 





1 Includes editing of new NUC titles reported for more 
complete integration into central catalog. (This does not 
include posting additional locations symbols, see 8 under 
Staff Use.) 

2 Location directory only. No allowance is made for NOS 
file where all posting will be automatic. 



3 Includes searching done by the Loan Division for some 
prospective borrowers. 

4 Funded by Department of Defense, administered by the 
Library of Congress. 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



69 



Hardware Requirements for Editing and 
Publication Functions 

The term "editing processor" is used in this report 
to designate the hardware equipment associated with 
Function J, Editing for Input and Output. As out- 
lined in Section III, this function is concerned both 
with editing input data for final inclusion in the cat- 
alog and also for the selection and editing of entries 
for publications based on data in the central catalog. 
If a read-only central memory were selected for the 
automated Library, then the major hardware item 
required for this function would be a large general- 
purpose computer capable of readily selecting, editing, 
and processing both input and output from the cat- 
alog. In addition to the general-purpose computer 
and auxiliary storage file, it would be necessary to 
provide for frequent additions and changes, since the 
storage file associated with the editing processor would 
consist almost exclusively of detailed instructions for 
the more common operations, dictionaries of pro- 
hibited and key operational terms, etc., and since this 
file would probably not be updated very often. In this 
respect the storage file associated with the editing 
processor resembles the central catalog which would 
probably be amended and merged at regular intervals, 
although not as frequently as the processing and cir- 
culation files. 

The type of file best suited to the infrequently 
amended dictionary portion of the editing processor 
and also to the automated catalog is often called an 
"integral search" file. This type of file (frequently 
in read-only form) can be amended and modified, but 
it may be less well suited to the continual changes 
associated with recording frequent transactions. Read- 
only files integrally addressed, however, can be 
searched at very high speeds, and are, therefore, par- 
ticularly attractive for operations involving the central 
catalog. 

When the editing processor has selected, arranged, 
and edited catalog information for publication in bib- 
liographies, accessions lists, etc., the resulting output 
is a digital form record (e.g. magnetic tape) with 
coded instructions on format and typeface. This dig- 
ital output is converted to printed page masters for 
high quality reproduction of cards, catalogs, bibliog- 
raphies, and indexes. The primary hardware asso- 



ciated with this operation (Function K) is a large 
photocomposition device. This photocomposer must 
be capable of producing all Library lists, bibliogra- 
phies, and catalogs, and possibly some special-purpose 
bibliographies produced on a fee basis for patrons. 

This publication output, as measured in words or 
pages, varies sharply from year to year depending on 
the number and size of special bibliographies and 
reports. A brief survey of Library publications made 
by the Office of the Information Systems Specialist 
indicates that the 12 largest recurrent publications 
totaled approximately 19 million words annually. 
Without further detailed study of the special publica- 
tions, no systematic projection of future, or even pres- 
ent, annual volume is possible. Similarly, no estimate 
can be made of the demand for special-purpose bib- 
liographies on a fee service basis without a study of 
possible fee schedules and some analysis of the market 
for this service. 

For the purpose of cost analysis a 50-million word- 
per-year estimate was used as an approximation of 
the photocomposer workload. To handle such a load, 
the photocomposer must have an output rate of about 
100 characters per second. An examination of the 
most important recurring publications leads to the 
reasonable but very rough estimate that, to produce 
similar output, the photocomposer would need 20 
typefaces in no less than 5 different point sizes. 

It is assumed that this publishing activity would be 
relatively flexible and could be carried on in off hours 
to avoid peak loading problems during the hours of 
public service. 

Hardware for Graphic Storage and Retrieval 

There are many collections in the Library in which 
there is a possible need for special graphic storage 
and retrieval equipment, e.g. maps, prints, photo- 
graphs, and manuscripts. Although these may all be 
considered as possible future applications, only one 
such application was included in the cost analysis : the 
current reference file maintained by the Legislative 
Reference Service. This file contains approximately 
500,000 documents and clippings, each of which re- 
mains in the file for 5 years; thus about 100,000 docu- 
ments are purged and added each year, keeping the 
file roughly at a constant size. 



70 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Graphic storage equipment would permit exten- 
sive cross-referencing and would insure file integrity 
while reducing search time. These objectives can be 
accomplished with digitally coded high-speed micro- 
film storage. Other requirements include production 
of hard copy in a few seconds and also the rapid merg- 
ing, reorganization, and purging of the file to keep it 
timely and relevant. 

The Office of the Information Systems Specialist 
estimated that this file is used approximately 870 times 
per week, or just under 22 uses per hour, based on a 40- 
hour week. Since this file must be readily available 
at all times to virtually the entire staff of the Legis- 
lative Reference Service, a peaking factor of approxi- 
mately 3 was used to insure minimum queuing. 

The hardware equipment associated with this func- 
tion includes an input processing device that combines 
the feature of a microfilm camera and a Flexowriter 
(or similar device) for imprinting the film with the 
appropriate digital code, and at least two complete 
retrieval units for film display and rapid hard-copy 
reproduction. The equipment should be capable of 
producing microfilm copy rapidly, in order to facilitate 
merging and multiple filing. 

Other Hardware Requirements 

Two other functions for which hardware is required 
are O, Business Data Processing and Q, Scheduling 
Library Operations. The former will not be con- 
sidered in detail because automation of the Library's 
accounting routines is now underway and the present 
tabulating equipment will be replaced by a small com- 
puter in 1964. However, the cost of this computer 
and related equipment is included in the cost anal- 
ysis. It is anticipated that the scheduling of Library 
operaions should require no more than occasional use 
of the same small general-purpose computer to pro- 
duce analyses and data projections of operations 
throughout the system. Consequently, requirements 
and costs for this function are not treated in detail. 

Functions Excluded or Analyzed Separately 

Several functions listed in Section III have not been 
discussed with respect to hardware requirements. For 
example, Function M, Monitoring Use of the Collec- 
tion, was excluded because of its relative simplicity and 
close association with other functions. Since each use 
is recorded in the not-on-shelf file, the associated com- 



puter can easily be programmed to store the informa- 
tion for a use record which may be read out at frequent 
intervals and stored on magnetic tape for further 
analysis. 

Function H, the Physical Storage of Items, requires 
no specific hardware other than that associated with the 
not-on-shelf file and the location directory. Auto- 
matic typewriters and mechanical reading devices will 
be used throughout the stack areas to permit control 
of items. Although it is possible to envision library 
stacks as huge automated warehouses with machines 
which automatically select desired books from the 
shelves, these possibilities were not included in this 
analysis. Thus the hardware implications of physical 
storage of the collection are essentially potential 
rather than actual insofar as more efficient modes of 
storage and retrievel may be developed once the auto- 
mated system is installed. 

The Production of Photocopy, Function L, was not 
included in the cost analysis. The Library presently 
maintains a large photoduplication laboratory with 
extensive photocopy and microfilm equipment, and it 
is not anticipated that the automated system would im- 
mediately modify or replace this equipment. 

The hardware associated with regional transmission, 
Function S, consists of output consoles in the Library 
and a communications network. The particular 
mode of transmission to be used has not been deter- 
mined and was not considered of particular rele- 
vance to this analysis, since transmission costs will un- 
doubtedly be borne, at least in part, by other libraries, 
and the communications network will be developed as 
a joint effort; hence, it is not truly a part of the internal 
system cost of the Library. 

Function T, Converting Existing Files to Machine- 
Readable Form, presents alternatives with respect to 
cost, since the function may be considered as a continu- 
ing operation of the automated system or as a unit 
process to be completed before the system becomes fully 
operational. These alternatives and some relevant cost 
facts are treated in Section VIII. 

The digital-form input processing (Function U) of 
the text of published material, as distinguished from 
bibliographic information, is contingent on the adop- 
tion of digital processing in the publishing industry, the 
successful development of economical and adaptable 
automatic conversion hardware, or the widespread use 
of linotype paper tapes for printing. Since the rate 
of technological progress in these areas cannot be pre- 
dicted with any accuracy, no specific requirements are 
projected for Function U. Even if the necessary equip- 



BASIC HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS 



71 



ment becomes available before the installation of the 
automated system, this should represent no significant 
increase in the total system cost and may, in fact, 
produce a net saving. 

Many of the hardware requirements of digital-form 
input processing have been included in this analysis, 
e.g., those relating to storage capacity, automated 
search methods, and suitable output equipment. The 
most significant hardware cost not included would be 
the specific equipment required for automatic con- 
version of printed material to machine-readable form. 
The costs of this equipment may well be compensated 
for by the savings resulting in Library operations such 
as cataloging and other input operations. 

The system displayed in Exhibit 1 shows the various 
hardware components communicating through an 
intercommunication switching network (Function 
V) . The approximate number of terminals and indi- 
vidual circuits can be determined from the discussion 
on the number of location of consoles in the sys- 
tem. Further characterization of this network must 



await a detailed system engineering study. 

Resume of Hardware Specifications 

Exhibit 28 is an outline summarizing hardware spec- 
ifications by function. Storage files associated with a 
particular function are related to the particular exhibit 
in which file requirements are displayed. In addition 
to the hardware indicated in Exhibit 28, two tape 
transport units and a high-speed printer are used in 
conjunction with several functions. 

Hardware specifications in this section have largely 
been analyzed with respect to the individual functions. 
As mentioned previously, this does not always provide 
the most suitable unit for analysis of requirements or 
costs. As a consequence, various related functions 
have been combined into basic hardware groups. Ex- 
hibit 24 is a reference table assigning functions to the 
three main hardware groups. In the next two sec- 
tions of this report, costs will be developed for these 
three groups as well as for specific hardware required 
to automate single functions. 



Exhibit 28. — Summary of Hardware Specifications and Requirements by Function 



Function A. Recording monograph acquisitions and proc- 
essing. 1 

Associated storage file: Monograph processing file (Ex- 
hibit 17). 

File capacity: 1.6 x 10 8 bits. 

Frequency of use : 5.3 per minute. 
Function B. Recording serial acquisition, processing, and 
holdings. 1 

Associated storage file: Serial file (Exhibit 18). 
File capacity: 5.3 x 10 s bits. 
Frequency of use : 14.4 per minute. 

Hardware requirements: Subsumed under internal proc- 
essing group (see Function A) . 
Function C. Maintaining catalog authority files. 2 

Associated storage file: Dictionary file of authors, subject 

headings, etc. (Exhibit 23). 
File capacity: 6.5 x 10 8 bits. 
Frequency of use : 1 1.5— 14 per minute. 
Function D. Catalog use. 2 

Associated storage file: Central catalog (Exhibits 15 

and 16). 
File capacity: 4.5 x 10 10 bits. 
Frequency of use : 124.2-194 per minute. 
Functions E and F: 

E — File access for staff (via input/output consoles). 
F — File access for readers (via output consoles) . 

Screen capacity and internal buffering (minimum) : 

1,000 characters. 
Keyboard character set (minimum) : 128 characters. 



Maximum number of pre-set message formats: 8. 
Maximum number of addresses: 7. 

Maximum number of operative instructions: 5 (input- 
output)^ (output-only). 
Number of consoles required : 

Minimum: 294 (including 55 input-output). 
Maximum: 409 (including 55 input-output). 
Function G. Control of library holdings. 3 

Associated storage files: Location directory (Exhibit 20). 

Not-on-shelf file (Exhibit 21 ) . 
File capacity (bits) : Location directory 1.2 x 10 9 . Not- 
on-shelf file 2.8 x 10 7 . 
Frequency of use : 18.3 per minute. 
Function H. Physical storage of items. 

No requirements or specifications are to be provided for 
this function except as a part of the relocation operations 
associated with Function G above. 
Function I. Circulation control. 3 

Associated storage file: Circulation file (Exhibit 22). 
File capacity: 1.8 x 10 9 bits. 
Frequency of use : 2.4 per minute. 
Function J. Editing for input and output. 
Hardware requirements: 

1 fast-access storage file of 2.5 x 10 s bits. 
1 large general-purpose computer. 
1 tape transport units. 



1 This function is included in the internal processing group 
for which specifications are given at the end of the exhibit. 



2 This function is included in the central catalog group for 
which specifications are given at the end of this exhibit. 

3 This function is included in the circulation and retrieval 
group for which combined specifications are given at the end 
of this exhibit. 



72 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Function K. Publication of bibliographic materials. 
1 Lu iiware requirements : 

1 large automatic digitally controlled photocom- 
position device (photocomposer) . 
100 characters per second. 
20 type faces in five point sizes. 
5 basic publication formats. 
Function L. Production of photocopy. 

No hardware requirements are specified for this function 
beyond the present hardware complement in the Library. 
Function M. Monitoring use of the collection. 

No separate specifications are given, since this function will 
be a programmed routine of the general-purpose computer 
associated with the circulation and retrieval group. 4 
Function N. Monitoring catalog use and response. 

No separate specifications are given, since this function will 
comprise a set of routines and off-line recording associated 
with the central catalog group. 4 
Function O. Business data processing. 

No capacity specifications are derived in this report, since 
the Library is presently planning installation of data proc- 
essing equipment. 

Hardware requirements: 

1 small general-purpose computer. 
1 high-speed printer. 
1 tape transport. 
Function P. Maintaining exchange and gift records.* 

Associated storage file: Exchange record (Exhibit 19). 
File capacity: 2 x 10 s bits. 
Frequency of use: 2.8 per minute. 
Function Q. Scheduling Library operations. 

No separate specifications are given. It is expected that 
this function will make use of equipment associated with 
Function O for its electronic data processing needs. 
Function R. Providing special graphic retrieval. 

Associated storage file: Legislative Reference Service 

clipping file. 
File capacity: 500,000 items (page units). 
Frequency of use: Estimated peak, 60 per hour (aver- 
age, 22 uses per hour) . 
Hardware requirements : 
1 recording unit. 
1 1:1 camera. 

4 Combined specifications for this group are given at the 
end of this exhibit. 

5 This function is included in the circulation and retrieval 
group for which combined specifications are given at the end 
of this exhibit. 



3 retrieval units. 

2 paper tape read-and-punch typewriters. 

Function S. Communication with other institutions. 
Hardware requirements: 

100 output-only consoles (low forecast) . 

200 output-only consoles (high forecast). 

Necessary communication lines and terminal sets. 
No more refined specifications are necessary for purposes of 
this report, since the costs of hardware and communica- 
tions lines associated with this function will be borne by the 
other libraries that use this service and will therefore not be 
a part of the system cost to the Library of Congress. 

Function T. Conversion of existing files to machine-readable 
form. 

Cost and requirements of this function are treated separately 
in Section VIII. 

Function U. Digital-form processing. 

Requirements and costs for this function are not treated 
in this report, since it is premature to estimate the availa- 
bility of published material in digital form or the necessary 
equipment for internal conversion to digital form. 

Function V. Controlling intrasystem communication. 

No specific requirements are given. This function will be 
costed as a unit. 

Summary 

Basic Hardware Groups 8 
Processing group : 

Storage file capacity: 8.9 x 10 s bits. 
Frequency of use: 22.5 per minute. 
1 medium-size general-purpose computer. 

3 tape transport units. 
Central catalog group : 

Storage file capacity: 4.7 x 10 10 bits. 
Frequency of use : 135.7—208 uses per minute. 
1 trillion-bit file with automated search logic. 
Circulation and retrieval: 

Storage file capacity: 1.2 x 10°. 

Frequency of use: 39.0 per minute. 

1 medium-size general-purpose computer. 

3 tape transports. 

50 off-line electric typewriters. 

70 limited-capacity magnetic print readers adapted 
for item control. 

6 See Exhibit 24 for tabulation of included functions, ca- 
pacity, and frequency of use. 



SECTION VI 



Hardware and Software Costs 



Summary 

The total hardware costs of the automated system 
are estimated at $16.7 million; software costs total 
about $9.6 million. The major hardware items in the 
total initial system costs of $26.3 million are a $5 mil- 
lion central file unit and 163 consoles expected to cost 
about $5.4 million. This report assumes the purchase 
of equipment rather than rental. 

Hardware Costs 

In this section procurement and software costs are 
developed for the hardware in each of the functional 
groupings discussed in the previous section. The basic 
hardware costs are presented in Exhibit 29, and their 
relationship to the functions discussed in Sections III 
and V is shown. Whenever possible, the costs of hard- 
ware items are taken directly from published pricelists. 
Obviously, in some instances there is no presently 
available comparable equipment — for example, the 
central memory, the photocomposer, and the pe- 
ripheral equipment used in recording circulation 
status. In these cases, however, somewhat related 
equipment is either under development or considered 
feasible, based on known advanced technologies. Both 
the proposed trillion-bit memory and the required 
photocomposer are essentially extensions of existing 
technology. Research that may lead toward the de- 
velopment of these items is proceeding independently 
of the potential automation of the Library of Congress. 
Estimates for all hardware under development were 
derived from discussions with industry representatives. 

In Exhibit 29 hardware items are identified with 
arbitrary numbers, since it is not the purpose of this 
report, nor the intention of the survey, team to recom- 
mend any manufacturer or equipment. Costs pre- 
sented are suggested as guidelines rather than precise 
bids or offers by any company. 



Where prices are available, the costs associated with 
basic hardware groups are detailed by component. 
Most groups include three major types of components: 
general-purpose computers, digital storage files, . and 
additional tape transport units. The hardware com- 
plexes for which the highest expenditures are antici- 
pated are the central catalog group, the consoles, and 
the editing processor. The cost of the central catalog 
group is estimated at at least $5 million, since its main 
component, the trillion-bit memory, is still under de- 
velopment. The cost of the consoles for the Library 
system is $5,440,000, the estimated cost for 163 consoles 
including software. Only consoles that are a direct 
burden of the Library budget are included on the as- 
sumption that consoles used in conjunction with fee 
services will be purchased through the receipts of these 
services, and consoles at regional terminals throughout 
the country will be paid for by the user libraries. The 
last major hardware group, the editing processor, is 
estimated to cost $3,362,500. Other hardware groups 
in the system range in cost from $120,000 (business 
data processing and scheduling) to almost a million 
dollars for the circulation and retrieval complex. 

Exhibit 30 indicates the sources for the cost estimates 
and lists manufacturer designations for equipment 
items that meet the requirements of the system hy- 
pothesized for costing purposes. Since comparative 
costs and specifications are most readily available for 
general-purpose computers, at least three different 
computers are presented for comparison. Peripheral 
equipment prices are highly competitive, but since 
these costs are relatively small with respect to the total 
systems costs, the most readily available price lists were 
used. The special reference graphic storage equip- 
ment estimates are based on quoted prices by the FMA, 
Inc. (Filesearch system), without implication by the 
survey team that competitive equipment does or does 
not exist for this task. 



73 



74 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Exhibit 29. — Basic Hardware Costs of the Automated System 



Item Purchase 

Basic Hardware Group number 1 price 2 

100 Internal Processing Group 
Functions included: 

A. Recording monograph acquisition and processing. 

B. Recording serial acquisition, processing, and holdings. 
P. Maintaining exchange and gift records. 

Basic hardware items: 

1 medium-size general-purpose computer and support equipment 3 101 $282, 750 

1 digital storage file (capacity >9 x 10 8 bits) 102 388, 500 

2 additional tape transport units 103 72,500 



Total cost 743, 750 

200 Circulation and Retrieval Group 
Functions included: 

G. Control of library holdings. 

H. Physical storage of items. 

I. Circulation control. 

M. Monitoring use of the collection. 
Basic hardware items: 



1 medium-size general-purpose computer and support equipment 3 201 282, 750 

1 digital storage file (capacity >1.3 x 10° bits) 202 504, 500 

50 on-line electric typewriters at $800 203 40,000 

70 limited-capacity magnetic-print readers at $1,000 204 70,000 

2 additional tape transport units 205 72, 500 



Total cost 969, 250 

300 Central Catalog Group 
Functions included: 

C. Maintaining catalog authority files. 

D. Catalog use. 

N. Monitoring catalog use and response. 
Basic hardware items: 

1 trillion (10 12 ) bit file and support equipment 301 5, 000, 000 



Total cost 5, 000, 000 

400 Consoles 

Functions included: 

E. File access for staff 

F. File access for readers 
Basic hardware items: 

55 input-output (staff consoles) 402 2, 200, 000 

108 output-only (reader) consoles i 402 3, 240, 000 



Total cost 5, 440, 000 

500 Editing Processor 
Function included: 

J. Editing for input and output 
Ba^ic hardware items: 

1 large general-purpose computer with support equipment 3 501 2,500,000 

1 very fast access digital storage file (capacity >2. 5 x 10 8 bits) 502 500, 000 

10 additional tape transport units 503 362, 500 

i 

Total cost 3,362,500 

See footnotes at end of table. 



HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE COSTS 



75 



Item Purchase 

Basic Hardware Group — Continued number 1 price 2 

600 Phoiocomposer 

Function included: 

K. Publication of bibliographic materials 

Basic hardware items: 

1 automatic photocomposition device capable of producing 50 million words per year with 20 
different typefaces 601 500, 000 



Total cost 500, 000 

700 Business Data Processing and Scheduling 
Functions included: 

O. Business data processing 

Q. Scheduling Library operations 
Basic hardware items: 

1 small general-purpose computer with support equipment 1 701 85, 000 

1 high-speed printer 702 35, 000 



Total cost 120,000 

800 Special Reference Graphic Storage 
Functions included: 

R. Providing special graphic retrieval 
Basic hardware items: 

1 recording unit 801 15, 000 

1 1:1 camera 802 7,500 

2 Flexowriters at S4,000 803 8,000 

3 retrieval units at $103,000 804 309, 000 



Total cost 339, 000 

900 Miscellaneous General Hardware 
Basic hardware items: 

1 high-speed printer 901 35, 000 

2 tape transport units (spares) 902 72, 500 

1 intrasystem communications network 903 100, 000 



Total cost 

1 Arbitrary numbers provided for reference wthin this report. 

2 Sources of rental prices by hardware item number are 
listed in Exhibit 30. 

3 Support equipment includes, among other items, a file 
control unit and one tape transport unit. 

4 The number of output-only (customer) consoles used ex- 
cludes consoles associated with fee services or regional 



207, 500 

communication terminals. The cost of these consoles will 
probably be borne by customers for these fee services, and, 
similarly, regional network consoles will be paid for by user 
libraries. However, average unit costs are based on a pro- 
jected production run that includes regional and fee service 
consoles. 



70 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



Software Costs 

The costs of developing the necessary compilers and 
programs vary widely depending on their complexity 
and number, therefore software costs, unlike hardware 
costs, cannot be based on unit prices. In the computer 
industry it is generally estimated that the total software 
cost roughly equals the total hardware cost, a rule of 
thumb used here only as a general guide. Where ap- 
plicable, software costs are estimated to be equal to the 
costs of programmable or logic-containing hardware. 
For this purpose, hardware is defined as including stor- 
age files; however, consoles, additional tape transport 
units, on-line reading devices, and automatic type- 
writers are excluded, since these items require no pro- 
gramming, once they are developed. 



Attributing software costs to specific hardware 
groups can be misleading, even if the total software 
cost estimate is valid. This is particularly true with 
respect to the software costs of the central catalog 
group and the editing processor. Since the editing 
processor is closely connected with the central catalog, 
the software costs of these two groups must essentially 
be considered as a unit. In order to estimate the total 
amount of such costs, however, they have been sep- 
arated and attributed to the individual groups in 
Exhibit 31. 

The great difference between hardware ($16.7 mil- 
lion) and software costs ($9.6 million) is primarily 
atttributable to the high total cost of consoles. Al- 
though the use of consoles will require programming 
of certain subroutines in the associated general- 



Exhibit 30. — Sources of Price Estimates foR Basic Hardware Items 



Hardware 
item 
No. 1 



101 



102 

103 
201 
202 
203 
204 
205 
301 
401 
402 
501 



502 
503 
601 
701 

702 
801-804 



901 

902 
903 



Manufacturer and model 2 



IBM 1410 

RCA 501 

Univac III 

IBM 1301 with file control. 



IBM 729/4 

See item 101. 

IBM 1301 with file control. 

Estimate 6 

Estimate 6 

See item 103. 

Estimate 6 

Estimate 5 

Estimate 5 

IBM 7090 

Univac 1107 

RCA 601 

Philco 2000 

Photostore 

See item 103. 

Estimate 6 

IBM 1401 



IBM 1403 

Based on prices provided by FMA, 

Inc., for components of their 

Filesearch system 
See item 702. 
See item 103. 

Estimate 



Monthly rental 
range 3 
(dollars) 



6, 000-32, 000 
11,000-26, 000 
15, 000-30, 000 
* 7, 135 



4 900 
4 9, 235 



50, 000-69, 000 
32, 000-60, 000 
24, 000-68, 000 
47, 000-79, 000 
6 11, 000 



2, 500-12, 000 
4 800 



Comments 



Medium-size general-purpose computer 



Digital storage file, 3.3 xlO 7 bits per magnetic disk (3 

disks required) 
Tape transport unit 

See item 102 (5 disks required) 
Automatic typewriters 
Magnetic print readers 

Trillion-bit file and search logic 
Input-output consoles 
Output-only consoles 
Large general-purpose computer 



Very fast access digital storage file 
Photocomposer 

Small general-purpose computer tentatively selected by 

the Library for business data processing 
High-speed printer 
Special reference graphic storage 



Intrasystem communications network 



1 Same item numbers used in Exhibit 14. 

2 Comparable equipment systems, all capable of meeting 
requirements of the relevant functions. 

3 From Computer Characteristics Quarterly, December 1961, 
Charles W. Adams Associates. Ranges reflect different 
peripheral equipment configurations available. Purchase 
prices estimated in Exhibit 14 were taken from actual pricelists 
where available, specifying needed peripheral equipment. All 
rentals are for 176 hours operation per month. 



4 Rental costs taken directly from published pricelists. 

6 No precise cost information was available for several items, 
either because they are still being developed (items 301, 401-2 
and 601) or because they may require extensive modifications 
(items 203 and 204). 

The intrasystem communication network cost was roughly 
estimated from similar complex automated systems. 



HARDWARE AXD SOFTWARE COSTS 



77 



purpose computers, this cost is included in their esti- 
mated purchase cost. The balance of this discrepancy 
is accounted for by the intrasystem communications 
network included in the miscellaneous general hard- 
ware group and the on-line reading devices and auto- 
matic typewriters, none of which will have postdevel- 
opmental software costs. 

Costs attributed to the special reference graphic 
storage are not actually software costs, but rather the 
costs of installing the system and converting the rel- 
evant files to microfilm. 

Rental vs. Purchase 

Since computer systems are frequently rented rather 
than purchased outright, appropriate estimates of total 
rental costs were developed for comparative purposes. 
The monthly rental of most computer equipment 
varies between y i0 and y 60 of the purchase price, 
based on a one-shift operation (176 hours) per month. 
A factor of y i5 of the purchase price was used in these 
estimates wherever specific rental data were not avail- 
able. The total rental cost for the automated system 
estimated on this basis is approximately $372,000 per 
month or $4.36 million per year. 

A premium is charged for additional operation 
above one shift per day; it was assumed, however, that 



all parts of the Library system would operate at least 
V/z shifts, and the rental estimate was accordingly 
adjusted upward by a factor of 40 percent. This fac- 
tor is derived from the present practices of the General 
Services Administration of the Federal Government. 
Applying this factor to the basic rental yields an esti- 
mated monthly rental of $522,000 and an annual 
rental of $6.25 million. 

On this basis the estimated total purchase cost of 
the hardware ($26.3 million) is absorbed in about 
4 years of rental. An amortization period of 4 years, 
however, is a slight understatement. Included in 
rental costs are service contract costs which, if paid 
for separately, are 2 percent of the purchase price per 
year. Even allowing for these included service bene- 
fits, the rental of the hardware equipment totals the 
purchase price in less than 5 years. 

The rental of computer hardware is often justified 
on the basis of the rapid improvement in the state-of- 
the-art. Most of the hardware used in this system 
will be especially modified and designed to meet the 
Library's needs, and the 4-year period will barely pro- 
vide opportunity for the automated Library to become 
fully operational. For these reasons, purchase rather 
than rental is assumed in the development of cost 
estimates in this report. 



Exhibit 31. — Summary of Basic Hardware and Software Costs 



Hard- 
ware 
group 



Description 



Cost 


Hardware 1 


Software 2 


Total 


$744, 000 
969, 000 
5, 000, 000 
5, 440, 000 
3, 363, 000 
500, 000 
120, 000 
339, 000 
208, 000 


$671,000 
786, 000 
3 5, 000, 000 
( 4 ) 

3 3, 000, 000 
( 5 ) 

120, 000 
6 25, 000 
not applicable 


$1, 415, 000 
1, 755, 000 
10, 000, 000 

5, 440, 000 

6, 363, 000 
500, 000 
240, 000 
364, 000 
208, 000 


16, 683, 000 


9, 602, 000 


26, 285, 000 



100 
200 
300 
400 
500 
600 
700 
800 
900 



Internal processing group 

Circulation and retrieval group 

Central Catalog group 

Consoles 

Editing processor 

Photocomposer 

Business data processing and scheduling 

Special reference graphic storage 

Miscellaneous general hardware 

TotaL 



1 Rounded to nearest thousand. 

2 Software costs, where applicable, were estimated to be 
equal to the programmable or logic-containing hardware, 
including storage files but excluding additional tape transport 
units and on-line reading devices or typewriters. 

3 Software costs for the automated search logic and the 
editing processor are not actually separable since the editing 
processor will control all input and some specialized outputs 
of the central catalog. 



4 Cost of programming set subroutines is included in purchase 
price of console hardware. 

5 This function will be controlled by the editing processor 
and all relevant software costs are attributed to the editing 
processor. 

6 Initial cost of committing clipping file to microfilm and 
organizing it was adapted from estimates provided by FMA, 
Inc. 



SECTION VII 



Operating Costs of the Automated System 



Summary 

Annual salary costs of the automated system in 1972 
total $4.2 million, of which $3.7 million is for salaries 
of the general Library staff and $0.5 million for equip- 
ment operators. Those areas of the Library whose 
operations are largely unaffected by automation are 
not included in this analysis, as explained in the text 
and exhibits which follow. The recurring annual costs 
of operating the basic hardware for the system is esti- 
mated at $317,600 for maintenance, consumable mate- 
rials, and floor space, as detailed in Exhibit 34. 

Personnel Costs 

Expenditures for the purchase of hardware and the 
development of software for the automated system are 
costs that must be met before the system can become 
operational. All costs incurred subsequent to this are 
defined as operating costs. In this report, a distinc- 
tion is made between recurring costs directly relevant 
to basic hardware items and salary costs of Library 
personnel. The recurrent costs of basic hardware 
items include the costs of space, contract service 
maintenance, and consumable materials. 

Recurrent hardware costs are fairly easy to analyze, 
but salary costs present certain problems. Since it is 
not the intention of this report to redesign the adminis- 
trative organization of the Library, the present ad- 
ministrative structure has been used, insofar as is prac- 
tical, to analyze the operating costs of the automated 
system. As mentioned previously, many divisions of 
the Library will be affected only to a minor degree by 
automation, since the processes automated comprise 
only a small portion of the total workload. Because 
of the difficulties inherent in abstracting minor work 
activities from a total work context, only the basic 
processing and circulation activities that form the core 
of the automated system are considered in detail. The 
relationship of automation to the remaining divisions 
78 



is discussed, however, and some examples of savings 
that might be expected are pointed out. 

Salary costs associated with the consoles, the special 
reference graphic storage equipment, and business 
data processing and scheduling are not presented in 
the analysis. The reason for the exclusion of consoles 
and special reference graphic storage equipment is that 
the automated equipment will affect only a small 
proportion of the total operations in which they are 
used. Business data processing and scheduling equip- 
ment is expected to produce substantial salary savings, 
but since this equipment will be installed in the Li- 
brary well before the automated system as a whole is 
under way, an exhaustive analysis of salary costs in 
this area was not deemed necessary. 

With the exception of cataloging, the use of the 
catalog, while crucial to many operations throughout 
the Library, does not occupy a major portion of the 
time spent in the total operation. In some cases con- 
soles are assigned to divisions or areas in the Library 
not because they represent a significant time saving, 
but because they will be the only means of communi- 
cation with the catalog and other files once these are no 
longer kept in a form which can be consulted manually. 

One example of the kinds of uses to which the con- 
soles are put, which cannot be readily analyzed in 
terms of salary costs, is in the General Reference and 
Bibliography Division of the Library. Reference li- 
brarians, while they make frequent use of the catalog, 
also spend a large part of their time preparing letters, 
consulting with readers, and answering the telephone 
requests. The use of the console, and the greater pre- 
cision of the catalog, would afford substantial savings, 
but these savings would almost undoubtedly be re- 
flected in more comprehensive answers to reference 
questions and in detailed treatment of a larger num- 
ber of such questions, rather than a net reduction in 
personnel costs. 

The special reference graphic storage equipment, 
while it would be of considerable assistance in the 



OPERATING COSTS OF THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



79 



Legislative Reference Service, would affect directly operating groups that are related both to the basic 

only the small percentage of the total employees who hardware groups discussed in Section VI and the 

are responsible for maintaining the present clipping present administrative divisions of the Library dis- 

file. Indirectly it would have wider implications, since cussed in Section II. 

this file is the basis for many of the prepared reports The personnel costs of these groups are displayed 
and since almost all of the LRS research staff make both for the personnel required for equipment opera- 
some use of this file. The salary costs attributable to t ion and for personnel required for the bibliographical 
operating the new equipment roughly equals the sal- an d general library operations. The manpower re- 
ary costs presently associated with maintaining the quirements and salary costs associated with equipment 
clipping file. From the proportion of time spent, by operation were based on industry experience with 
the rest of the LRS staff using this file, it is possible to comparable equipment configurations. Personnel in- 
estimate approximately the total salary saving that eluded under this heading are programmers, main- 
may result from the installation of this new equipment. tenance technicians, operators of general-purpose 
The estimated saving is approximately $40,000 per computers, keypunch operators, and those console 
year, based on a reduction in average use time from operators who are exclusively concerned with the con- 
15 minutes to 5 minutes. sole operation and are not called upon to exercise 
The three most important hardware groups in the bibliographic judgment or to possess library skills. 

automated svstem are those associated with internal -rv ± i ± i 

\ Direct salary costs for programmers, computer op- 

processmg, the central catalog, and circulation and . • . ^ u • • u j 

. . ° . erators, and maintenance technicians are based on rates 

retrieval. I he importance of these hardware con- , ..... . . , 

r . , , , . , presently prevailing in private industry and may 

ngurations, m terms of both complexity and total cost, ,. . , , 

^ , n A , . , T ., . ... represent a slight overstatement to the extent that Gov- 

accurately reflects those areas of the Library m which 

the automated system will make its most significant emment SalaneS for ^ skllls tend t0 be somewhat 
contribution. The conversion of the card catalog to Iower - Console °P erators and keypunch operator sal- 
digital form will have a pervasive effect on virtually aries are based on classifications (existing or corn- 
even' operating branch of the Library; however, with parable) presently prevailing within the Library. The 
the exception of the three areas cited above, these direct salary costs associated with these positions are 
effects will be for the most part indirect and may, in as follows : 

fact, be reflected more in improved and increased serv- Position Annual salary 

ice rather than in basic changes in operating procedure Programming supervisor $10,000 

or manpower requirements. Programmers 8,000 

t? u'lv on r i • Computer technicians 7, 200 

.Lxnibit 51 presents a summary of the operating „ c .„„ 

r 1 r Computer operators 6, 500 

costs of these three areas of operation. The com- Console operators 5, 255 

panion exhibit (33) describes the hardware-oriented Keypunch operators 4,345 

Exhibit 32. — Annual Salary Costs of the Automated System: 1972 



Hardware-oriented operating groups 1 


Number of man-years 


Salary cost 3 


Equipment 
operation 2 


General 
library 
staff 


Total 


Equipment 
operation 2 


General 
library 
Staff' 


Total 

(dollars) 


Cataloging and catalog maintenance 

Acquisition and internal processing 

Circulation, retrieval, and storage 

Total 


* 47 
8 
14 


256 
170 
192 


303 
178 
206 


318, 100 
48, 700 
85, 200 


1, 845, 300 
964, 400 
907, 200 


2, 163, 400 
1, 013, 100 
992, 400 


69 


618 


687 


452, 000 


3, 716, 900 


4, 168, 900 



1 For explanation and description of hardware-oriented group 
see Exhibit 33. 

2 Includes technicians, operators of general-purpose com- 
puters, keypunch operators and console operators who operate 



consoles full time and are not required to exercise bibliographic 
judgment. 

3 Includes 7J£ percent fringe benefit factor. 

4 Includes all programmers for the system. 



so 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



The estimation of the remaining labor costs involved 
a more complex procedure. Using work units identi- 
cal with or adapted from a study prepared by the Plan- 
ning Research Corporation for the Library of Congress 
in December 1961, output per man-year was estimated 
in each of the relevant activities. The resultant out- 
puts per man-year were adjusted upward to take into 
account the increased productivity expected to result 
from automation and were then applied to the volume 
projected for 1972 in Section V. From this an esti- 
mate was obtained for the number of man-years re- 
quired for each operation in the automated system. 
In all cases the number of man-years for a given op- 
eration was rounded upward to the nearest whole 
number. 

The factors used for adjusting the present output 
per man-year to the output per man-year under auto- 
mation were the reciprocals of work reduction co- 
efficients. The primary work reduction coefficient was 
60 percent, which reflected the proportion of time 
saved in general searching in the main card catalogs. 
This figure was derived from a recent survey of search- 
ing activity conducted by the Office of the Information 
Systems Specialist. In this study it was found that al- 
most 60 percent of the total time in searching new 
titles was spent walking from one file to another in 
following cross-references or checking alternative en- 
tries. This walk time would be eliminated by the use 
of the console; however, the elimination of walk time 
is only one part of the savings in catalog searching, 
since the automated catalog should be more refined, 
complete, and less susceptible to error than the present 
card catalogs. 



Hardware-oriented operating 



Cataloging and Catalog 



Acquisition and Processing. 
Circulation, Retrieval, and 



1 As used in Exhibit 32. 

2 See Section III for description and position. 



The 60 percent work reduction coefficient was ap- 
plied only to complete catalog searching operations; 
smaller work reduction coefficients were attributed 
to more rationalized searching activities where only a 
single file was used and walk time or lookup time was 
reduced. For instance, the search time associated with 
serial record posting was only assumed to have a work 
reduction coefficient of 30 percent. 

Once the number of man-years required for the op- 
erations in the three major areas was determined, the 
salary costs were estimated using the present salary 
structure. No allowance was made in this case, nor 
in the case of personnel involved with the equipment 
operation, for salary changes. In addition, all cost 
estimates are in 1962 dollars. 

The salary costs estimated in Exhibit 32 include a 
7/2 percent fringe benefit factor, since this factor was 
used in the previous study of Library operations con- 
ducted by the Planning Research Corporation. 

Recurrent Hardware-Related Costs 

Three basic kinds of recurring costs are analyzed 
in this report: costs of providing a suitable environ- 
ment (space costs), service contract costs, and con- 
sumable materials costs. The day-to-day maintenance 
cost associated with the equipment is subsumed under 
the general labor costs of operating the equipment, 
but the costs for service provided by the manufacturer 
are treated separately, since these are usually handled 
on a contract basis. Power costs are minimal in the 
total operation and were therefore excluded. For ex- 
ample, the electricity to run a large general-purpose 



vant basic hardware group 



Catalog Group. 
5 (in part). 

ng Group. 

ion and Retrieval Group. 



3 Excluding the processing and publication of New Serial 
Titles in the New Serial Titles Section. 



Exhibit 33. — Descripton of Hardware-Oriented Groups 



groups 



Comparable units in present 
administrative structure 2 



Rek 



nance. 



age. 



Descriptive Cataloging Division. 
Subject Cataloging Division. 
Decimal Classification Office. 
Catalog Maintenance Division. 
Union Catalog Division. 
New Serial Titles Section. 
Order Division. 
Serial Record Division. 3 
Exchange and Gift. 
Loan Division. 
Stack and Reader Division. 
Serial Division. 



Central 
Consoles 

Processii 
Circulat 



OPERATING COSTS OF THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



81 



computer with a fairly complete line of support equip- 
ment costs only about 30 cents per hour. Even allow- 
ing for several such computers with 4,000 hours of 
operation per year, the total power cost would still 
amount to a few thousands of dollars. 

Exhibit 34 is a summary of these recurring costs 
tabulated by the basic hardware groups designated in 
Section VI. The first column indicates the amount 
and the cost of the floorspace required for various op- 
erations. While it is probable that the installation of 
the automated system would result in a net savings 
of floorspace over all, the cost of floorspace specifically 
required for the installation of the equipment is tabu- 
lated for two reasons. The first reason is that, while 
all floorspace used for any operation has some cost, 
the cost of providing floorspace for expensive computer 
equipment is higher, since temperature and humidity 
must be controlled. A second reason is that the space 
savings permitted by the installation of the automated 
equipment will not be immediately realized, since ex- 



isting card catalogs, etc., will still have to be main- 
tained for an indefinite period of time. It was felt 
that the inclusion of floorspace costs would provide a 
more generous estimate of recurrent costs. 

For the most part, service contract costs are esti- 
mated from computer manufacturer pricelists and a 
representative sample of service costs for the proposed 
equipment was tabulated. These contract costs vary 
increasingly with the time elapsed since installation of 
the equipment, with increments at 3-year intervals; 
therefore, the average of the entire 9-year period pro- 
vided in the available pricelists was used. This av- 
erage rate (determined from the sample to be 1.6 
percent of the purchase price per year) works out to 
be somewhat greater than the rate for the middle 
period. This rate has been applied to the purchase 
prices developed in Section VI for all the hardware 
groups except the console and the graphic storage 
equipment. 



Exhibit 34. — Recurring Annual Costs of Basic Hardware Items 



Basic hardware group 1 


Floorspace 


Service 
contract 
cost 4 


Consumable 
materials 
cost 


Total 
recurring 
cost 


Square feet 
required 2 


Total cost 
cost 3 


100 Internal processing group 

200 Circulation and retrieval group 

300 Central catalog group 9 


1, 000 

1, 000 

2, 500 


$5, 000 
5, 000 
12, 500 


$11,900 
15, 500 
80, 000 
8 544, 800 
67, 300 
15, 000 
1, 900 
» 9, 000 
3, 300 


s $500 
« 500 


$17, 400 
21, 000 
92, 500 
54, 400 
82, 800 
27, 200 

4, 900 
14, 100 

3, 300 


400 Consoles 7 




500 Editing processor 

600 Photocomposer 

700 Business data processing and scheduling 

800 Graphic storage equipment 

900 Miscellaneous general hardware 


2, 500 
700 
500 
400 


12, 500 
3, 500 
2, 500 
2, 000 


» 3, 000 
« 8, 700 
s 500 
12 3, 100 


Total 










43, 000 


258, 300 


16, 300 


317, 600 







1 Numbers and descriptions keyed to exhibits in Section VI. 

2 Estimated size of room required to house equipment, desks, 
and tables required by operators and users. 

3 Estimated at $5.00 per square foot including air condi- 
tioning and other space-related costs. 

4 Service contract costs for computers and related equipment 
range from 1 percent to 4 percent of purchase price, depending 
in part on the extent to which high-speed mechanical devices 
are used. A representative sample of types of equipment used 
in the automated system indicated a mean service contract 
rate of 1.6 percent of purchase price, which is the estimate 
used here unless otherwise noted. ' 

5 Based on an annual replacement rate of ten 2,400-foot reels 
of magnetic tape. Punched cards and paper costs are ignored 
as negligible. 

6 All consumable materials including tapes for programs 
relating to the catalog are subsumed under the editing processor. 



7 No additional floorspace is allocated to consoles, since it 
is assumed that files and desks replaced will more than com- 
pensate for the console space requirements. 

8 Service contract cost is estimated at a lower rate of 1 .0 
percent, since it is assumed that redundancy (more than 160 
consoles throughout the Library) will provide substantial 
economies of scale. 

9 Based on annual replacement of fifty 2,400-foot reels of 
magnetic tape at $50 plus $200 in paper and punched card 
costs. 

10 Based on an estimated materials cost of 10 cents per page 
generated. Assuming an average of 600 words per page, an 
annual output of 50 million words would generate approxi- 
mately 87,000 pages. 

11 Based on service contract rates charged by FMA, Inc., 
for Filesearch equipment. 

12 Costs of film, punched cards, and film reels estimated 
from data provided by FMA, Inc. 



SECTION VIII 



Costs of Conversion to Digital-Form Storage 



Summary 

Several alternatives are possible with respect to the 
files converted to digital form. Conversion of mini- 
mum basic files (53 million words) would cost $1.2 
million; basic files plus the Library of Congress catalog 
(426 million words) would cost $2.4 million; basic 
files plus the National Union Catalog, which includes 
the LC catalog (699 million words), would cost $3.3 
million. The cost does not vary directly with the con- 
version load since the conversion method considered 
(stenotypy) has a fixed cost of $1 million. Stenotypy 
is considered practical because the magnitude of the 
conversion load permits development of automated de- 
vices, such as an automatic conversion dictionary, for 
the conversion operation. The conversion cost, in- 
cluding 100 percent verification in proofreading, is 
estimated at J/3 cent per word. 

The Conversion Process 

The establishment of an automated system for the 
Library would require the complete or partial conver- 
sion of card catalogs and other files and records to 
machine-readable (digital) form. For many of the 
automated functions, the relevant records, such as the 
reference files associated with acquisition, processing, 
and circulation, would require conversion to digital 
form even before the system can operate. Conversion 
of all or part of the contents of the card catalogs to 
machine-readable form is not, however, a prerequisite 
for operating the system. When the system begins 
operation, the automated catalog can be empty, par- 
tially complete, or complete, although the first two al- 
ternatives would involve the inconvenience and cost of 
using two catalogs concurrently. In any case, it is 
probable that, even if the conversion of the card cata- 
log to digital form were not complete before the sys- 
82 



tern began operation, provision would be made for 
complete conversion within a reasonable length of time. 

For purposes of estimating requirements and costs, 
it is assumed throughout this report that all catalog 
cards and other operating files have been converted to 
digital form and stored in the appropriate automated 
files. This assumption is a necessary one if the result- 
ing cost estimates are to apply to a completed auto- 
mated system and not to some transitional system 
which will require further modification or extension 
when catalog conversion is completed. 

In this section, general cost estimates, based on pres- 
ent technology in this area, are developed both for the 
conversion of records required for system operation 
and for complete conversion of the Main Catalog. It 
was assumed that the conversion process would not 
be accomplished automatically through the use of 
electronic equipment capable of translating printed 
material to machine-readable form without any hu- 
man intermediary, since at the present time automatic 
conversion devices are capable of dealing with only a 
single typeface and therefore would not be suitable. 

There are at the present time few man-machine 
processes for converting textual information to 
machine-readable form, other than typewriting (key- 
punching) operations. One process, recently de- 
veloped specifically for rapid conversion of a large 
volume of varied information, involves the use of steno- 
type transcription and automated lexical processing. 
The cost estimates developed here are based on this 
method of conversion; however, this stenotype con- 
version is used only as a reasonable basis for estimating 
approximate costs, and a much more detailed analysis 
is needed before a determination can be made of the 
specific method to be used. 

Both fixed and variable costs are associated with 
stenotype conversion. The fixed costs apply to the 
automated dictionary through which stenotype copy is 
processed and to the related electronic equipment. 



COSTS OF CONVERSION TO DIGITAL-FORM STORAGE 



83 



This automated dictionary is analogous to the diction- 
aries used in automatic translation of foreign lan- 
guages. In this method the stenotyped copy is com- 
pared in a large dictionary, words are spelled out, 
arranged and edited, and transferred in digital form 
to magnetic tape or other digital storage. 

While the particular steps in this conversion process 
may not be equally applicable to all facets of the con- 
version problem, the estimates presented below are 
considered representative of feasible alternative con- 
version methods. The costs associated with the auto- 
mated dictionary, its support equipment, and 
operation are esesntially fixed and do not vary appre- 
ciably with the volume of information processed or 
the specific input process utilized. The variable costs 
of stenotype conversion are associated with the steno- 
type transcription and with proofreading the machine 
output. Salary cost for the transcription and proof- 
reading are largely proportional to the amount of 
data converted, although there are certain limited 
fixed initial training costs. 

The fixed costs associated with the automated dic- 
tionary and support equipment are approximately $1 
million. It should be noted that this amount includes 
an automated dictionary for the English language only, 
since at the present time automated lexical processing 
is practical only for the English and Russian languages, 
these being the languages for which automated dic- 
tionaries have been compiled. Accurate estimates of 
the cost of generating other dictionaries are not avail- 
able. Furthermore, not even approximate estimates of 
the composition of the Main Catalog and other files, 
by language, are available. The relative importance 
of foreign languages in the various files and catalogs is 
a problem of special importance which will require 
considerable study. In view of the lack of pertinent 
information, and for purposes of simplifying the anal- 
ysis, the entire conversion process was assumed to re- 
quire only the English language. 

The basic unit in the estimation of variable costs 
is the word, rather than the character or the bit, since 
both the stenotype transcription and the proofreading 
of machine-generated copy are specifically concerned 
with word units. The conversion cost, including both 
stenotyping and 100 percent verification in proof- 
reading, is 1/3 cent per word. 1 

1 Projected estimate given the Planning Research Corp. by 
a group active in this field. 



Cost of File Conversion 

Exhibit 35 lists five files that must be converted to 
digital form before the relevant automated functions 
can become operational. The first three files (mono- 
graph, serial, and exchange) provide basic working 
information on sources for new acquisitions and for 
serial titles to which receipts must be posted. The 
initial inputs to the not-on-shelf file will be transfers 
of charge records for items in use in the Library (the 
present Central Charge File). The complete conver- 
sion of the catalog authority file is dictated by the 
importance of the file as an aid to cataloging and by 
the fact that the established author and subject- 
heading entries are basic to the organization of in- 
formation in the automated catalogs. The number 
of words in the National Union Catalog is also shown 
(the Library of Congress Main Catalog is given for 
purposes of comparison, although each main entry 
in the Main Catalog is included in the National Union 
Catalog) . 

Exhibit 36 shows the costs of conversion for the 
various files and alternative combinations of files. 
The lowest cost estimate is $1,177,000 for conversion 
of only those files necessary for operation of the system. 
The highest estimate is $3,331,000 for conversion of 
the entire contents of the National Union Catalog 
plus the required files. Because of the relatively large 
fixed-cost elements, the proportional increase in total 
cost is much smaller than the proportional increase in 
the volume of information processed. Hence, the 
processing of over 2.3 million words costs only three 
times as much as the processing of 177,000 words, a 
volume only y 13 as large. 

The cost of conversion should not be regarded sim- 
ply as the cost of transferring identical records from 
one format to another, since the conversion of records 
to digital form can provide many important byprod- 
ucts at little or no additional cost. All data to be 
converted must pass through the automated conver- 
sion dictionary and the computer associated with it, 
a process that would permit many kinds of lists and 
tabulations to be generated automatically as part of 
the conversion process. In the conversion of catalog 
card information, for example, key title words could 
be tabulated and stored along with the appropriate 
item identification numbers. Thus a title-word index 
could be produced for all prior holdings at only a 



84 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



small additional cost for off-line equipment and tape. 

Similarly, the conversion of the catalog authority 
file would provide automatic editing and cross-check- 
ing of author and subject headings for catalog card 
conversion. Names or terms particularly subject to 



misinterpretation or misfiling could be specifically 
noted and automatically cross-checked in any of the 
files. Another important byproduct of this process 
might be the flagging of duplicate, incomplete, or 
ambiguous entries for special examination. 



Exhibit 35. — Files To Be Converted to Digital Form 



Description 



Number of 
characters 



Required files: 2 

Standing order and vendor files in the monograph processing file (see Exhibit 17) . . . 

Initial size of serial record file (see Exhibit 18) 

Complete list of exchange and gift sources in the exchange record (see Exhibit 19). 

Transfer of Central Charge File records to not-on-shelf file (see Exhibit 21) 

Catalog authority file (see Exhibit 23) 



Total . 



Prior holdings: 
National Union Catalog: 

11,750,000 titles 3 at 275 characters 4 . 
Library of Congress Main Catalog: 6 

6,600,000 titles 6 at 275 characters 4 . . 



3, 600, 000 
66, 331,000 
13, 800, 000 
3, 200, 000 
178, 765, 000 



265, 696, 000 



.3, 321,250, 000 
1, 865, 000, 000 



1 Estimated as \i the number of characters and rounded to the 
nearest thousand. 

2 Files that must be converted to digital form before the 
system can become fully operational. 

3 Based on estimates of present size and projected increase 



given in Exhibit 14. 

4 See note (3) of Exhibit 14. 

6 The contents of this catalog are included in the N.U.C. 
6 Based on an estimated maximum of 5.5 million titles in 1961 
plus the increase projected by 1972; see note (2) of Exhibit 14. 



Exhibit 36.- — Costs of Conversion of Existing Files to Digital Form 



Basic files 


Number 


Fixed 


Variable 


Total 




of words 


cost 1 


cost 2 


cost 


1 . Required files (listed under A in Exhibit 35) 


53, 139, 000 


$1, 000, 000 


$177, 000 


$1, 177, 000 


2. National Union Catalog 


646, 250, 000 


1, 000, 000 


2, 154, 000 


3, 154, 000 




373, 000, 000 


1, 000, 000 


1, 242, 000 


2, 242, 000 


Combined files 










4. Required files plus National Union Catalog (variable cost of each 










plus fixed cost) 


699, 389, 000 


1,000, 000 


2, 331, 000 


3, 331, 000 


5. Required files plus LC Main Catalog only (variable cost of each 






426, 139, 000 


1, 000, 000 


1, 420, 000 


2, 420, 000 



Cost of automated dictionary and support equipment. 2 Estimated at % cent per word (see text for included costs). 



SECTION IX 



Cost Projection for the Manual System 



Summary 

Salary costs for the computer system are compared 
to salary costs for maintaining the present manual op- 
erations for the increased workloads projected for 
1972. Results indicate that salary costs will be higher 
for the manual system — $5 million compared to $4.2 
million. This may be a particularly significant finding, 
since libraries are having to compete more and more 
with other agencies for the highly trained manpower 
they require. In addition to matching the manual sys- 
tem operationally, the automated system provides 
many services not possible in a manual operation. 
No attempt was made to estimate what it would cost 
the Library to perform these same services manually; 
hence the figures above are understated for the manual 
operation. 

Introduction 

Salary cost estimates for certain divisions and opera- 
tions in the Library were developed for the automated 
system in Section VII. In order to provide a basis 
for comparison, similar salary cost estimates are de- 
veloped in this section for the present manual system 
for the same divisions and operations. Costs are pre- 
sented for the same hardware-oriented operating 
groups used in Exhibit 32 and described in Exhibit 33. 

The unit costs estimates used in this analysis are 
taken from a previous study of the Library's opera- 
tions conducted by the Planning Research Corpora- 
tion. This study, entitled Cost Estimates of Selected 
Information Storage and Retrieval Activities, was 
completed in December 1961 after several weeks of 
investigation in the Library. Specific work units or 
work unit equivalents were developed to measure the 
amount and type of activities performed in the Li- 
brary. These work units were defined for' the various 
administrative divisions of the Library, and all salaries 



in each division studied were allocated to at least one 
of the established work units. 

Although the cost estimates are developed for ad- 
ministrative groups identical to those used for the 
automated system, the two sets of estimates are only 
roughly comparable in that no attempt has been made 
to separate those additional services and refinements 
that the automated system will provide. 

Salary Cost Estimates 

The salary cost estimates shown in Exhibits 37 
through 39 are based on the workload projections 
made for the automated system. In some cases the 
various statistics and assumptions used to define the 
automated system are not as well suited for analysis 
of the nonautomated system, with the result that the 
salary costs derived are not necessarily identical to the 
estimates that might have been developed had the 
primary object of this report been to project costs for 
a nonautomated system. For example, in some in- 
stances, particularly for those operations eliminated by 
automation, projections were not developed. In such 
cases the estimates used in Exhibit 38 were adapted 
from available projections, usually by applying ratios 
observed for 1961 operations. All such extrapolations 
and adjustments have been noted in the exhibits. 
Salary costs in this case, as in the costs for the auto- 
mated system, include a fringe-benefit factor of 
percent, since this factor was included in the original 
unit costs developed in the December 1961 study. 

Salary costs associated with the catalog and catalog 
maintenance hardware-oriented group are tabulated 
in Exhibit 38. The total salary cost for this operating 
group in 1972 is estimated to be $2.4 million. Com- 
parable tabulations of salary costs for the acquisition 
and internal processing group and for the circulation, 
retrieval, and storage group are presented in Exhibits 

85 



86 



A COST ANALYSIS OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM 



37 and 39, respectively. Much of the routine work 
of the Order Division will become completely auto- 
matic and the operations of the Exchange and Gift 
Division may be drastically revised by virtue of elec- 
tronic access to all acquisition records. Consequently, 
there are in the automated system no separately iden- 
tifiable equivalents of the present operations of these 
two divisions. In view of this, the salary costs in 
Exhibit 37 for these two divisions have been estimated 
somewhat arbitrarily at twice the 1961 level. This 
estimate parallels the estimated 100 percent increase 
in transactions volume used for purposes of establish- 
ing the requirements of the exchange record in Ex- 
hibit 19. All cases in which the unit cost or estimated 
volume reflect adjustments or extrapolations from esti- 
mates used elsewhere in this report are noted. 



The resulting salary cost estimates for the three 
hardware-oriented groups are as follows: 



Operating group 


1972 salary 


1972 salary 


costs manual 


costs automat- 




operation 


ed system 


Cataloging and Catalog Main- 






tenance 


$2, 375, 000 


$2, 163, 400 


Acquisition and Internal Process- 


ing 


1, 297, 400 


1, 013, 100 


Circulation, Retrieval, and Stor- 


age 


1, 313, 310 


992, 000 




4, 985, 710 


4, 168, 500 



For a discussion of the benefits resulting from auto- 
mation, for which a comparable manual system was 
not projected or costed out, see Section I, pages 33 to 34. 



Exhibit 37. — Salary Costs of the Manual System in 1972: Acquisition and Internal Processing 



Administrative unit 



Equivalent work units 



Salary cost 
per unit 1 



Estimated volume 



Total salary 
cost 1 



Order Division 

Serial Record Division . 



Exchange and Gift Division . 
Total salary cost 



All activities assumed double 1961 2 

Pieces searched 3 

New entries prepared 3 

Other operations 6 

All activities assumed double 1961 6 



10. 087 
3. 090 



« 2, 100, 000 
* 20, 000 
presumed constant 



1 Includes 7}i percent fringe benefit factor. 

2 Since this operation will be included in the larger monograph 
acquisitions and serial acquisitions functions, the work units 
defined in the previous study were not too relevant to the 
automated system. In allocating operating costs in the 
automated system, a general increase of 100 percent (double) 
by 1972 was assumed. The same assumption is used here 
for comparability. 

3 Work units defined in earlier cost study. 



4 Estimates confirmed by division personnel. 

6 Includes physical maintenance of files, physical transfer 
of materials, etc. 

6 This division will also be changed radically by automation, 
making individual work units previously defined irrelevant. 
In determining operating costs for the automated system, 
provision was made for twice the present level of operations. 
The same assumption is made here. 



COST PROJECTION FOR THE MANUAL SYSTEM 
Exhibit 38. — Salary Costs of the Manual System in 1972: Cataloging and Catalog Maintenance 



87 



Administrative units 



Equivalent work units 1 



Salary cost 
per unit 2 



Estimated 
volume 3 



Descriptive Cataloging Division . 
Subject Cataloging Division 7 . . . 



Decimal Classification Office . . 

Other Operations 10 

Catalog Maintenance Division . 

Other Operations 12 

Union Catalog Division: 

Current File 

Past File 

Information Service 

New Serial Titles Section 14 . . . . 



Total cost. 



New titles 

Titles recataloged or edited 

Titles assigned subject headings 

and classification. 
Titles classified 



Cards prepared for filing. 
Cards filed 



Cards received . 
Cards received . 



Titles searched . 
Titles edited . . , 



s $8. 52 
s 3. 29 
8 2. 91 

.78 



.04 
.06 



. 19 
. 11 



. 12 

3. 17 



120, 000 
31, 000 
» 102, 000 

40, 000 
presumed constant 
11 2, 446, 000 
11 1, 892, 000 
presumed constant 

13 1, 368, 000 
13 1, 032, 000 
presumed constant 
15 158, 000 
16 22, 000 



1 The work units are equivalent to thse developed in previous 
cost study by Planning Research Corporation for the Library 
of Congress. In some cases these work units have been ad- 
apted to simplify the exposition, such adaptationsare noted in 
the footnotes. 

2 Salary costs per unit are taken directly from the earlier 
cost study, unless otherwise noted. 

3 Unless otherwise noted, the estimates of volume for the 
various operations are taken from Exhibit 15 to insure com- 
parability with the cost analysis of the automated system. 

4 Total salary costs and salary costs per unit include a 7}i 
percent fringe benefit factor in previous cost study. 

5 This estimate is sum of 3 unit costs for component proce- 
dures in descriptive cataloging: searching ($0.86), preliminary 
cataloging (SI .08), and descriptive cataloging (S6.58). 

6 Only descriptive cataloging unit costs apply in this case, 
since searching and pre limin ary cataloging are not required 
for cooperative editing or recataloging. In the earlier cost 
study it was estimated that editing and recataloging required 
only }i the direct labor of full cataloging. For this reason the 
unit cost estimate used here is equal to the descriptive 
cataloging unit cost cited in note (5). 

7 The shelflisting and labeling operations carried on within 
the subject cataloging division are, for purposes of this analysis, 
assigned to the circulation, retrieval, and storage group because 
of the inclusion of the location directory in that group. 

8 Unit cost refers only to subject analysis and classification 
for each title, and does not include shelflisting and labeling. 

9 A study of the Main Catalog conducted by the Office of the 



Information Systems Specialist indicates that approximately 
85 percent of the titles in that catalog had subject headings. 
Hence, only 85 percent of the 120,000 new titles (102,000) are 
assumed to require subject cataloging. 

10 Other operations in this case refer to the editing and prep- 
aration of the published Dewey Decimal Classification and other 
manuals, etc. These activities do not appear to be directly 
related to the number of titles classified. 

11 Statistics on cards filed were not developed for analysis 
of the automated system since actual cards will not be required. 
For purposes of this cost analysis, however, an increase of 
over 1961 levels was assumed, based on the percentage increase 
projected for new titles cataloged. 

12 Other operations listed in this division include preparation 
of the published NUC catalog and answering reference queries. 

13 The total number of NUC reports projected for 1972 is 
2.4 million (see Exhibit 15). In 1961, reports processed in the 
current file (post-1955) account for 57 percent of the total 
reports. Since the cutoff date for the current file in general 
progresses each year, this ratio is assumed to remain constant, 
and the total volume of reports projected for 1972 is divided 
accordingly between the current and past files. 

14 New Serial Titles is a publication of the Serial Record 
Division, but it has been included in this operating group for 
purposes of this analysis, since the operations required for its 
preparation are analogous to those involved in the Union 
Catalog Division. 

15 See Exhibit 18. 

16 Estimate confirmed by Serial Record Division personnel. 



ss 



Exhibit 39. — Salary Costs of the Manual System in 1972: Circulation, Retrieval, and Storage 



Administrative unit 



Estimated 
salary cost, 
1972 



Loan Division 

Stack and Reader Division . 

Serial Division 

Subject Cataloging Division: 

Shclflisting 

Labeling 

Total salary cost 



i S272, 224 

1 396, 561 
275, 645 

2 282, 960 
3 85, 920 



1, 313, 310 



1 Salary costs for these divisions are estimated at FY 1961 
levels. In developing costs for the automated system, no pro- 
jections were made either because the volume was determined 
by exogenous factors or because historical statistics indicated 
no significant trend (see Exhibit 13). 

2 For purposes of this estimate, the estimated number of new 
titles in 1972 (120,000, see Exhibit 15) was assumed to be equal 
to the number of titles shelflisted. The earlier cost study 



indicated a cost of $2.36 per title shelflisted (120,000x 
$2.36 = $282,960). 

3 The ratio of volumes labeled to titles shelflisted was assumed 
to be the same in 1972 as 1961. This ratio of approximately 
4:1 was applied to 120,000 titles shelflisted estimated above 
for 1972: cost per volume labeled, according to the earlier 
cost study, is $0.18 (480,000x$0.18 = $85,920). 



U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:1984 



I 



